


Dollhouses and Magazine Editors

by Tayliebean



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - 13 Going On 30 Fusion, D&D did gendrya dirty so here is a modern au fic for everyone out there still heartbroken, F/M, Modern AU, Modern Setting, also this is my first thing on ao3 i normally post on fanfiction net so woohoo first story on here, come on 13 going on 30 is one of the best movies for fandoms to do an au for, i also put underage because obviously this starts when the characters are all around 13, i have a fulltime job so I will try to get this all posted as fast as i can, i think every fandom has a 13 going on 30 au for at least 1 of their pairings, it'll still have the amazing bones of that movie but there will be a lot of extra stuff, its gonna diverge a bit from the 13 going on 30 storyline a bit, please be patient with me i havent posted a fic in 4 years and I am a bit rusty, this has probably already been done before too but oh well im doing it now, this is also LIGHTLY based on 13 going on 30
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-04-06 07:38:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19058191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tayliebean/pseuds/Tayliebean
Summary: Arya Stark is already over her thirteenth birthday party and it hasn't even started yet. She dreams of being thirty, with her life figured out, working for her favorite travel magazine and being able to zoom around the world with her best friend in tow.After a prank gone wrong and some wishing dust, Arya wakes up in 2019, thirty, her dream come true, but not a familiar face in sight and no memory of the last 17 years. How does she react when her dream came with a price, including losing her best friend, Gendry? And what can she do to fix it?





	1. Chapter 1

“Underfoot!” 

Arya rolled her eyes as she walked through the halls of her school, glaring in the direction of some jocks known to breathe the same air as Sansa and Jayne. The nickname had spread over the years, but she swore to her parents she would not get detention on the last day of her twelfth year, an early birthday present for _them_.

She stepped to the side to avoid bumping into the crowds, and shouldered off her backpack to shove the spring portraits deep into the front pocket. The picture was atrocious, with her mouth half open and a glare in her eyes as she barked at the photographer that her name was “ _Arya_ ” and not “ _Anya_ ” as he kept calling her. Her mother, the beautiful and poise Catelyn Tully, used their portraits for their summer photos every year, and she knew she’d hear an earful upon returning home. 

Once her backpack was back on her shoulders she continued on towards the front entrance of the school. She smiled and waved goodbye to the multitude of friends she had at the school, despite Sansa’s running mouth over the years. 

She waved to the Sand sisters, Elia and Obella, who shared multiple classes with Arya this past year. Their olders sisters were also very nice, but were grades above them and had to be somewhere else in the school.

She made a face at Luke and Ben, who were confusingly nicknamed Lommy and Hot Pie. They had told her the nicknames happened years before, but were very vague regarding the origin and Arya decided to never ask. They both made faces back, but ended it with a smile and wave as she passed by.

She even went to give a goodbye hug to her science partner, Mycah, one of the few kids who received a scholarship to the elite private school. He always had rosy cheeks, and Arya suspected he had a crush on her since the rosy color always spread to his ears when she would speak to him. She found it sweet, and never brought it up to avoid him getting embarrassed. 

As she finally reached the front entrance of the school, she felt a paper airplane perfectly hit her earlobe and she grabbed at it, turning to see her best friend standing at the end of the hallway, a large grin on his face.

“Gendry!” She called, feigning anger as he quickly approached her, shoving his notebook in his bookbag.

“Direct hit!” He cheered, smirking down at her.

She rolled her eyes, punching him lightly in the arm as the two turned and walked out the double doors.

“You could have poked my eye out; blinded me!” she chided.

He chuckled, “My accuracy is too good, I hit exactly where I wanted to hit.” 

They walked across the pristine cut lawn of the school, heading towards the bus stop. 

“Did your dad call you last night?” Arya asked, squinting up at him. The sun was nearly blinding her, and she hated how tall he was compared to her, it was so annoying. She was short compared to nearly everyone, but the height difference between her and Gendry always seemed to bug her to an extra degree.

Gendry scoffed, “The drunk probably forgot his bastard needed to talk to him about a ‘ _family history_ ’ assignment due from at his _alma mater_. Which is fucked since he pushed for me to go here as soon as he found out about me.”

Arya frowned. She hated when he referred to himself as ‘bastard,’ but he never let up on it. He would always tell her that was what he was, it was accurate, because he grew up not knowing his father and being raised by his single mother, Myra. He said he wore the badge proudly, but the kids at school didn’t mean it _proudly_ when they’d call him that behind his back. Arya had served quite a few detentions for overhearing other children whisper it when he’d walk by the classrooms and then punching them right in the face for it. 

She was very protective of him, but she chalked it up to considering him a part of her pack. She was protective of everyone in her pack. She would look out for Bran and Rickon too when she’d see them at the lower school, and now with Bran in sixth grade, the only one on the west side of the school was Rickon, but he had a few more years before moving up to the middle school section.

Gendry was her best friend. Despite the year age difference, they seemed to just drift towards each other. Gendry liked cars, and he was obsessed with how they worked and taking apart engines, and putting them back together. When Gendry’s father found out about him a year and a half ago, he arranged for him to move upstate to be closer, and to enroll Gendry in King’s Private Academy, a kinder - 12th university of a school that a majority of New York’s finest children attended, including the 3 per year scholarship children from all over the state. Anyone who lived too far were assigned rooms in the school dorms, but they had to be at least twelve to stay in the dorms, so seventh grade and up was when they accepted scholarship children. Gendry didn’t want to leave his mother, so Robert moved the two of them upstate.

Robert Baratheon, Gendry’s birth father and a successful lawyer and the mayor of their city, owned a rather large estate outside of town, but Cersei, his wife, refused to let them move into their guest house. Instead, Robert purchased a rather cosy three bedroom home in an upper middle class neighborhood a bus ride away from the Academy and a thirty minute drive to his home for Gendry and his mother to live in. 

A garage came with the house, and with easy access to the public transit, his mother allowed him to fiddle with their ‘98 buick on the weekend to fill his curiosity. Arya would come by on the weekends and sit on the beat up couch in the garage, idly watching him work while she fingered through _Wander_ magazine. She was fascinated by the articles, which weren’t boring old gossip and celebrity interviews like _People_ or _Bravos Entertainment_. _Wander_ was distinguished, with their reporters traveling all over the world, writing articles about different cultures, different people with drastically different lives than anyone in their city. It was Arya’s connection to the outside world. Outside of the east coast, outside of snobs and bullies, outside of being Arya Underfoot. 

She dreamed of hoping on a plane and traveling anywhere in the world, of getting the freedom these reporters had. 

She wanted to do that. She was so hopeful for college, of studying journalism. She hoped Gendry would come along, perhaps graduate from working on cars to maybe airplanes, or whatever else he dreamed of doing, and they would get to try everything out there in the world together.

But they still had a few years before that could even begin its motion. She wasn’t even thirteen yet.

“But anyway,” Gendry cleared his throat, before nudging her with his elbow. As if he read her mind, he said, “What are you doing for your birthday tomorrow?” 

She frowned down at her feet, before shrugging, “My mom is having a party, but I didn’t invite anyone. I didn’t really want a party. She makes it out like thirteen is such a big deal, but what can I even do?” She asked, looking back up at him.

Gendry shrugged, “Yeah, next big birthday isn’t until your sixteen, then you can drive.”

She scoffed, “Not even sixteen! Like...like twenty, or _thirty_!”

“Thirty?” Gendry laughed.

She nodded, “When you’re thirty, you have everything figured out. You have your career, your own house, your whole life is basically perfect by then. We can’t even vote until we’re eighteen, and you can’t drink until you’re twenty-one,” 

Gendry shrugged, “I mean...I guess,” 

“I want to be thirty,” She said proudly, straightening her back.

He chuckled, “Well, for now, you’re thirteen and got a hell of a lot of growing to do to ever pass as a thirty year old.”

She shoved him, and he nearly went tumbling into a bush. She laughed, and began running down the sidewalk as Gendry chased after her, a determined look on his face to get her back.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

Arya glared at her reflection in the mirror, her mother standing behind her brushing her hair back into a tight french braid.

“Why do i have to go?!” Arya snapped, glaring at her mother’s reflection.

Catelyn glared back, “Enough, Arya. Thirteen is a big deal, and despite you not passing out the invitations I put in your bookbag, I had Sansa invite over plenty of children from your school for the party.”

“I don’t want to hang out with Sansa’s stupid friends! I hate Sansa!” Arya argued.

Catelyn tugged Arya’s braid tighter, causing Arya to shut her mouth and wince.

“Shush. You don’t mean that, she’s your sister; the only sister you’ll ever have. Besides, Sansa assured me she invited people you knew and would like. She said she invited the Sand sisters, and that Targaryen boy,” 

Arya rolled her eyes, groaning. She hated him. His name was Aegon, and he was the younger son of Rhaegar Targaryen, as well as her cousin’s half brother. He was a year above her, and they had some electives together the last few years. He was cocky, and had shoulder length white blond hair, like most of the Targaryens. He hung out with Sansa and Joffrey Baratheon’s crowd of people.

“I even called Mrya and asked that Gendry come over after his lunch with his father today,” Catelyn said.

Arya sighed. If anything, her and Gendry could make a break for it and go hide in her brother’s fort in the barn.

Once Catelyn finished with her hair, Arya stood, staring down at the insane outfit her mother had bought for her. It was a white floral dress, with a large bow tied around her waist. She planned to spill some coke on the front just to spite her mother for picking out such a girly dress. It was bad enough she had to wear a green and navy plaid skirt to school every day, but now on her first day as a teenager she was being forced to wear such a horribly girly dress? Her birthday was turning out so terrible and it wasn’t even noon yet.

There was a knock on her door and she turned and saw her father, Ned Stark, walk through with a large grin on his face.

He had a brown paper shopping bag behind his back, and he nodded towards Catelyn to give them a moment alone. Her mother quickly left, a small smile on her face as well. 

Arya furrowed her brows, curious to know what was going on, while Ned took a seat on her bed and motioned for him to join her. She sat beside her father, and he placed the brown paper bag down behind the two of them.

“You look beautiful, sweetheart,” he said, his voice deep.

She frowned, trying hard not to snarl as she looked down at herself once more. 

Ned reached over and gently tipped her chin back up to look at him, “Don’t hate your mother for this. You truly do look beautiful, even if you hate dresses. Give her this, she only has so many more birthdays with you still at home.”

She sighed, nodding.

“For you,” he said, reaching behind them and pushing the bag closer to Arya.

She smiled, and reached into the bag to feel a very thick box. She placed the bag on its side and pulled the box out, revealing a picture of a portable computer, the screen colored brightly with rainbow pixels.

She gaped, and looked back up at him. 

“If you’re so serious about writing, you’ll need something professional. This is something you can bring with you on the go.” 

She stared back down at the box holding her brand new Dell portable computer, and gently ran her fingers across the photo of it.

“I love it,” She muttered. Ned grinned, leaning over and hugging her tightly.

She smiled back at him, and thought to herself that perhaps this birthday wouldn’t be as terrible as she imagined.

Ned left shortly after, and Arya spent the next hour pulling open the box and examining the portable computer, pushing it open and plugging it in to charge. She read through the instructions as thoroughly as she could, wanting to make sure she was doing everything right to use it.

By 1 o’clock, the doorbell rang and she heard her mother call that Gendry was there.

Arya hurried out of her room and met Gendry in the foyer on the ground floor. He was wearing a button down and slacks, his shaggy hair brushed back as he must have just come from his lunch with his father. It was a weekly ritual, sometimes bi-weekly if Robert Baratheon was busy with some government thing or too hungover to get out of bed.

He also had a large bag with him, but that wasn’t what surprised Arya the most. There was a large, bulky digital camera hanging around his neck.

She gave him a look and he shrugged, “I’ll explain later,” he muttered.

She grabbed his hand and lead him towards their basement, where the party would take place. 

The mansion had a fully finished basement, which was used mostly by the children. It was a large game room space, with one corner holding a leather sectional and the largest model sony television sitting in their wooden entertainment center, each shelf holding DVDs and VHS tapes and a variety of medals and trophies from Robb’s years playing sports. On the other side of the staircase there was a section that held a pool table, beanbag chairs and, currently, a foldable table holding soda bottles and multiple bags of chips.

They took a seat on the leather sectional, near the game closest, and Gendry dropped the bag he was holding and leaned back, exhausted.  
“What’s with the camera?” Arya asked, poking it.

He groaned, “I got it to spite my dad.”

“How is a camera spiting him?” 

He shook his head, “Well, he was talking on and on about how much he hated the photographers that always follow him around, how he felt he didn’t have privacy anymore. Said every camera man can burn in hell, so i spit out that I love photography, and wanted him to buy me a camera so I could get better at it. Uncle Renly was there, and said it was a good idea for future colleges and crap. So, before dad dropped me off here, we stopped at BestBuy to buy this.” 

“Are you actually going to take up photography?” She laughed.

He shrugged, “If it pisses off my dad enough, sure. I can still work on cars and take pictures.”

“What else did you get?” She asked coolly, nudging the bag with her foot.

He smirked, pulling the camera off from around his neck and placing it down on the couch. He reached into the bag, but refused to pull out the gift.

“Before you hit me,” He warned, and she arched her brow at him, “I figured, every girl needs a dream house just for them,” he laughed.

Arya made a fist, ready to hit him before he pulled the gift from his bag.

It had the bones of the dollhouses her mother used to buy her, and that Sansa used to play with, but the look of this one was different. It was cut and pasted together with cardboard and construction paper, with handmade dolls crafted together as well.

There were two levels, with multiple interesting rooms and a flat spot on the roof with a toilet paper roll airplane on the top.

“Gendry,” Arya whispered, staring at each room.

“It’s the Arya Dreamhouse!” He presented, weakly. He scooted farther back on the couch to place the dollhouse between them and began pointing to each room.  
“I made the kitchen a combination of a regular kitchen and half McDonalds, so we can keep having Big Mac eating contests any time of day, and the living room has a light up dance floor for all the parties you can have. That’s a ‘ _No Sansa_ ’ sign on the front door,” Arya laughed as he opened the door from the outside to show her the sign as she looked through.

He closed the front door and moved to the second floor, “This is your office,” He said, pointing to a room with orange construction paper glued to the cardboard walls with a small desk and a hand crafted computer on top, and a pipe cleaner doll with last year’s yearbook photo of Arya pasted to the doll’s face.

“It’s soundproof, so if you want to write when people are over then you won’t lose your focus, with the latest and best computer on the market.” 

She was beaming, and her eyes trailed to the room across from her office, where a Gendry doll sat.

He pointed to that room next, “And I could only assume I’d get a room at your house too, being your best friend and all. I’ve got my work bench in there and then we have access to the rooftop airplane pad through the ceiling,” He pushed his fingers through a cutout in the cardboard and it opened a hatch on the roof, leading up to the airplane.

“That way we can fly to anywhere in the world you want to see and write about,” he grinned sheepishly, and Arya suddenly noticed he was blushing. Why was he blushing?

“This is amazing!” Arya beamed, reaching into the house and taking the Arya-doll in her hands.

“Not done yet, though,” Gendry said, reaching back into the bag.

He pulled out a small black packet, and ripped it open, sprinkling the glittery contents on the roof of the house.

“My mom told me about this stuff. It’s wishing dust. This way, you can make your wish and it’ll definitely come true,” he explained.

She rolled her eyes, “That’s not a real thing.”

He scoffed, “Of course it is! My mom said so, that means it’s the truth. So? What are you going to wish for?” 

She sighed, pursing her lips before reaching over to shove him, “That this stupid party won’t even happen.”

He shook his head, crumpling the packet and tossing it into the bag, “I don’t think the wishing dust is that powerful.”

The doorbell rang upstairs, and Arya sighed, standing up. “That’s them,” She grumbled, grabbing the dollhouse and walking towards the game closet. She carefully balanced the dollhouse with one hand and her hip while opening the door with the other, and placed the dollhouse on the highest shelf she could reach, hopefully out of harm's way in case any of Sansa’s friends tried to pick it apart.

“Sansa, Arya, the party guests are here!” Her mother called, and Arya heard the hurried footsteps and squeals of Sansa and her friends in the foyer. 

Arya met Gendry’s eyes, frowning. No turning back now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I'll try to have chapter 2 up relatively quickly, as I just need to proof it. But let me know what you think!  
> Apologies for any spelling or grammar mistakes as well. I proof these on my own, and despite reading it over multiple times I sometimes still miss things.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Margaery Tyrell suggests a party game. What could go wrong?

The party had been in full swing for a little over an hour now. Arya sat on the edge of the leather couch with Gendry, Obella, and Elia, chatting and bobbing their heads to the radio playing. Sansa was at the other side of the room near the refreshment table with her friends, all of them laughing, digging into the chips and assorted fruit, all the while turning to look at them to snicker and whisper every few minutes.

Among Sansa’s group of friends was Jayne Poole, a girl who grew up down the road that had always stuck by Sansa’s side, as well as Myrcella Baratheon, Gendry’s half sister who clung to Sansa because of her popularity, and Margaery Tyrell finished out on top, Sansa her second in command. Margaery was the most beautiful girl in the eighth grade, in the entire school most likely. There was a rumor that made it all the way to the lower school that senior boys had asked Margaery to prom this past April, but Margaery would never confirm that the rumors were true, she’d just smirk and wink. 

Margaery was very good at feigning her niceness, being a friend to everyone, but using each friendship for her own purposes. Arya sometimes found herself curious about Margaery, as the beautiful brunette had always seemed very nice to Arya, but she was also best friends and queen bee of Sansa’s group so Arya knew something had to be wrong with her. She figured it had to be manipulation by friendship, so she continued to be wary of the Tyrell girl.

Joffrey Baratheon was also there, Myrcella’s ninth grade brother and Gendry’s half-brother as well; his hands were laced with Sansa’s but his eyes darted to Margaery and her mesh white shirt with the low cut tank top underneath whenever Sansa wasn’t looking. 

Trystane Martell was also there, Obella and Elia’s cousin, and finishing up the male group was Loras Tyrell, Margaery’s older brother in ninth grade as well.

After a moment, Margaery excused herself and walked up the staircase, most likely heading towards the main floor bathroom. The basement bathroom was under construction currently, leaving the partygoers stuck going back and forth up the stairs throughout the party.

“I want a drink but I feel like if I walk over there I’ll get my neck ripped out,” Obella shuddered.

“Trystane will defend you, he’s the only nice one there,” Arya commented, “And if he doesn’t I’m not scared to bite some of their throats,”

Obella and Elia grinned, chuckling to themselves at Arya’s comment.

Gendry had his head leaned back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. He stretched after a moment, “I’m heading to the bathroom,” he muttered, pushing himself up and walking towards the staircase.

Arya watched him go, and noticed the glare he shared with Joffrey before heading up the stairs to the main floor. After a few minutes, Margaery reappeared, bouncing down the steps with a certain spring in her step and a smirk on her lips.

She looked at her group before turning to meeting eyes with Arya. The smirk was still there as they locked eyes and she stepped towards her, “I have a fun idea!” she announced.

Sansa and their group perked at this, and Arya frowned, not liking the sound of this.

“It’s Arya’s thirteenth birthday party. We should do something big to christen the day,” 

“Like what? Shove her face in her cake and ditch?” Joffrey laughed.

Margaery sent him a glare, “No. What did we all do at our thirteenth birthdays? Seven minutes in heaven.”

Sansa and the girls all beamed, giggling. Obella and Elia looked a bit apprehensive, the only boys there being their cousin, Joffrey, Loras, and Gendry.

Arya made a disgusted face, “Absolutely not!”

Margaery pouted out her lower lip and stepped forward. She had a silk scarf tied at the base of her neck, like a fashionable headband and reached behind her head for it. 

“You’re thirteen now, Arya. You’ll be kissing boys sooner than later. Might as well start now, to learn what to do,” She reached under her long, curly brown hair and untied the scarf, pulling it gracefully out and wrapping it around her hands.

She grabbed Arya and pulled her to a standing position, “It’ll be fun, you’ll see.”

“I don’t want to kiss any of them,” She hissed, glaring past Margaery in Joffrey’s direction.

“Who would want to kiss your ugly _horseface_ , anyway?” Sansa barked, catching Arya’s glare at Joffrey.

Arya felt as if she had been slapped, her lips falling deeper in a frown. Underfoot was one nickname she could live with, but her sister hadn’t ever called her horseface in front of others. It was always something between them. She hated it, but at least no one else knew to call her that too. Just another thing Sansa ruined with her big mouth.

Joffrey was grinning, trying hard not to bark out a laugh.

Margaery frowned, before taking Arya’s shoulders and spinning her towards the closet, “There’s one boy here you’d like to kiss though,” she whispered.

Arya turned her head to look back at Margaery, confused.

The older girl smiled coyly, “Don’t pretend you don’t know who. He wants to kiss you too,” she whispered.

Arya still didn’t know who she was talking about, but silently let Margaery wrap the scarf around her, covering her eyes.

Margaery spun her around thirteen times, and reached over to open the closet door. She guided Arya into a kneeling position in the closet, before leaning down to whisper in her ear, “Gendry will be in in a moment.”

Arya’s eyes widened against the scarf and before she could speak up she heard the closet door close, leaving Arya alone in the dark.

She gulped, and suddenly thought about Gendry blushing as he presented her the dollhouse sitting a few shelves above her head. 

Did he really like her enough to want to kiss her? If Arya really thought about it, the only person in her life she would even think of kissing would probably be Gendry. She never thought about him that way before though. Or perhaps she did? She remembered picking on the girls he would mention that flirted with him during school, saying that they sounded dumb or that he shouldn’t waste his time with them. She remembered he got mad at her once when she did that, and that he said something along the lines of how ridiculous it was for a kid from the inner city to even think about liking a girl from a wealthy family _like her_. 

What was going on with her? Margaery Tyrell, who Arya had dubbed the queen of manipulation at their school, had said one thing to her and now she’s sitting in a dark closet blindfolded, overthinking every little thing.

She heard the closet door _squeak_ open, and she suddenly went very stiff. She could hear footsteps, and someone kneeling down in front of her.

She gulped, unsure of what to say; of what to _do_! She had never kissed anyone before, besides a peck on the cheek with her parents or uncle. She hoped Gendry knew what to do, but also hoped he didn’t. Oh, she was very confused.

Suddenly, she felt something wet and mushy push against her lips, and she grimaced, furrowing her eyebrows together. She shoved her hands forward, pushing against his chest. Laughter erupted, and Arya reached up to pull the scarf down. She saw Joffrey kneeling in front of her, holding a half eaten banana up at the same level of her lips. 

Joffrey was laughing hysterically, with Jayne, Trystane, and Loras also laughing in the doorway. Sansa had a nervous smile on her face, a weak chuckle coming from her, and Margaery was glaring from a few feet behind them, with Obella and Elia matching her glare in Joffrey’s direction.

Arya felt fury rise in her, and she punched Joffrey in the face. He fell backwards, cradling his nose as it began to bleed.

“Arya!” Sansa snapped, shocked, as the laughter died down.

Arya heard footsteps at the staircase, but she didn’t care if her parents were coming. She was furious. 

“Get out!” She screamed, standing to shove and kick Joffrey out of the closet. The blond scurried through the doorway and Sansa tried to stop her, but Arya shoved her back with as much force as she could, “I hate you! I hate you! I hope you die!” Arya was screaming as she shoved Sansa past the doorway.

Suddenly she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her waist and pull her back towards the closet, giving Sansa and her friends the freedom to bolt up the staircase. Margaery gave Arya a sad look before gently pulling Elia and Obella towards the staircase as well.

Arya turned to look behind her and Gendry gaped at her, “What happened?” He asked, confused.

She glared at him, suddenly remembering when Margaery returned from the bathroom. She had to have passed Gendry. She was smirking. Had they spoken? What did they say?

She shoved him off her, pushing him back and barricading herself in the closet.

“Arya!” Gendry shouted, banging on the door.

“Leave me alone! I hate you! I hate Sansa! I hate Joffrey! I hate my life!” She screamed, ripping the scarf from her neck and falling back against the shelves, covering her ears with her hands.

“Arya, open the door! What happened?” He called, the banging continuing.

“I just want to be thirty,” she whispered, the fury slowly disappearing and her eyes pricking with tears. Why was she crying over this? What was happening to her? 

She banged her whole body back against the shelves and looked up, seeing the wishing dust from the dollhouse fall down on top of her from the shaking of the shelves.

_**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o** _

Arya groaned, reaching up and grabbing her head. It was pounding, like a headache she’d never experienced in her life before. She was under her blankets, and there was a continuous _Ding_ sound coming from somewhere in her room. It was almost even more annoying that the loud blaring of her alarm clock.

She shoved the blankets off her face and reached to her right for the lamp on her nightstand. Her hand collided with the wall, and her head shot up, surprised. It was dark, and she groped the wall, completely surprised. She rolled over, thinking this was a prank Sansa and maybe Robb and his friend Theon were pulling on her. She kept rolling, her bed suddenly much larger than she remembered. It almost felt like she was in her parents large king size bed. She finally reached the edge, and groped around the nightstand until she found the base of a lamp. She reached up and found the chain, pulling it down and covering the entire room in a bright white glow.

She hissed, quickly covering her eyes as the pounding at her head heightened from the brightness.

The _dinging_ continued, and she used her hand to shield her eyes from the light as she looked around the nightstand for an alarm clock.

There was nothing there though that resembled an alarm clock. There were two bottles of water, a very thin black remote control that had significantly less buttons than a remote should have. There was also a small square wrapper that was ripped open, and then a rectangular blue silicon case on the nightstand that had a small cutout in one corner. In the cutout there seemed to be a light, as it flashed every few seconds, followed by the _ding_ sound.

She grabbed it, staring at the case before flipping it over. There was something in the case, but she didn’t know what.

There was white around the glass screen, with a silver outlined circle on one end and a thin black line and two black circles on the other. There was a retangular black screen with the white bordering it, and every time there was a ding the black screen lit up, revealing the time, and it said:

_**7:23AM**  
7:15AM Alarm  
Wake up! Coffee w/ Waif!_

_'Waif? What’s a waif?'_

Arya tapped at the screen, unsure what to do. She noticed a button on the side of the device and pressed it, silencing the device instantly and causing the screen to go black.

She yawned, tossing it down on the bed and sitting up.

She stared around the room, confused. This wasn’t a room in her house. There was a desk across the room, and a large, flat rectangular box on the wall in front of the bed. The floor was littered with clothing, male and female, and the curtains were drawn closed from large floor to ceiling windows.

She felt hot, confusion taking over her, and she reached up to pull at her nightshirt. Instead of finding a high collar she realized she was wearing a loose fitting man’s shirt, and she pulled the stretched out collar away from her chest and looked down her shirt, her eyes going wide.

“What the…?” She whispered, shocked, suddenly groping at her chest, her hands filled with her breasts.

She didn’t have breasts yesterday. And her voice sounded different; more mature, more womanly, less childish.

Her mother always said it would feel like she would wake up one day and she’d have a women’s body, but this seemed too literal. Even Sansa didn’t have breasts like these yet.

She kicked off her blankets and stood, realizing the only thing she had on was this shirt. She scrambled around the room, grabbing a pair of black underwear off the ground and a pair of jeans that looked extremely tight.

She jumped into both, feeling distressed.

“Mom!” She shouted, “Something’s very different!” 

She grabbed the small rectangle off the bed, unsure what to do with it. It reminded her of a gameboy in a way. She shoved it in the back pocket of the jeans, huffing when she realized the jeans had no front pockets.

She ran for the door and shoved it open, staring at the teal colored walls of the hallway.

She could hear a shower running from the door next to the door she just came out of. She quietly walked down the hall to avoid any attention from the person in the shower, and walked into a sunlit living room and kitchen.

She gaped at the nicely decorated area, the creme colored sectional, plants and photographs and artwork scattered around the room. 

She walked towards the coffee table, and saw that another black rectangular thing was hanging on the wall opposite the couch. She stared at it, confused, before reaching for the _Wander_ Magazine on the coffee table.

She flipped it over and saw the address it was sent to at the bottom.

_Arya Stark_  
2391 12th St, Apt 17A  
Manhattan, NY, 10003 

“I live here,” She muttered.

She walked towards the front door of the apartment, and saw a mirror hanging up by the door.

She quickened her steps, wondering what else was different.

She stepped up to the mirror and her eyes met her reflection.

Her mousy brown hair had pink tints in it, with feathered bangs like Sansa envied from the fashion magazines. Her eyes had traces of mascara and eyeliner, but the eyes looking back at her appeared the same as yesterday, only everything else was so different. She didn’t have baby fat anymore, her cheekbones prominent and her lips seemed fuller. It was her, but it was also not her.

She screamed, jumping back from the mirror.

Suddenly she heard a door open, “What’s wrong? What happened babe?” 

Arya grabbed an umbrella from the umbrella stand by the door and ran back out to look at the strange man with blue hair standing at the end of the hallway, holding a towel around his waist.

She gaped, staring at the strange man, “W-Who are you?!” she screamed, holding the umbrella with both her hands, ready to strike him.

He gave her a worried look, “What? Why did you scream?” 

“Answer the question! Who are you? Why are you naked in my apartment?!” 

He smirked, running a hand through his blue locks, “Oh, are you playing a role playing game? Like last night?” he asked, but before she could answer he began removing his towel, “I’m down for thirds, babe,” the towel dropped, and Arya shrieked and opened the umbrella, throwing it in his direction before spinning around and running towards the door. She grabbed a pair of sandals off the floor and a set of keys off the side table under the mirror, and ran out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and leaving comments & kudos everyone! That means a lot. Please let me know what you think so far.  
> And again, I apologize for any spelling or grammar errors. I'm doing this by myself, and despite reading it over multiple times, I still end up missing something.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And here enters...Gendry!

Arya scrambled to put her shoes on as she hurried out of the elevator, through the lobby, and out the revolving door. The city streets were bustling with people in their work wear, taking into those rectangular shapes or staring down at them in their hands and tapping at the screens.

She was completely lost, unsure what to do or where to go. 

“Arya!” 

She spun around towards the street and saw a blonde woman standing by a black range rover, with a purple sign by the windshield that said LYFT.

The blonde woman was also tapping at her own rectangular device with one hand, while motioning to the open back door with the other, “Let’s go, I already ordered our drinks so we can shoot through the drive thru before work.”

“What? W-Who are you?” Arya asked, glancing over her shoulder to see if this blonde woman was speaking to someone else.

She looked up and gave Arya a confused look. The blonde was well manicured, her hair straightened perfectly and her makeup done to the T. She was wearing a black suit jacket and a loosely fitting white button down under it, with tight black pants clinging to every curve of her leg, finishing the look off with a pair of red heels.

The blonde, upon looking at Arya’s face, nodded understandingly, “Oh, I see what happened.” 

She perked up, thinking this woman knew what was wrong with her, and could perhaps help or get her to her parents house.

“You’re hungover,” The blonde nodded, stepping forward and grabbing Arya’s forearm, pulling her towards the car. 

“What? No!” Arya argued, trying to pull her arm lose from the blonde’s grip.

The blonde continued to nod, “Look, what you and Griff do on your Sunday nights is fine, but you need to get your shit together for work. Jaqen is already pissed about being scooped,”

“Jaqen? Griff? What the hell are you talking about?” Arya snapped, finally breaking free of the blonde’s grip.

“I’m not getting in that car with you! I don’t even know you!” Arya turned to run back to the building but saw the blue haired man in the lobby, grinning and waving at her as he walked towards the door.

Arya cringed, before finally groaning and jumping into the range rover. The blonde sighed and muttered “finally” under her breath before stepping in after her.

The blue haired man reached the sidewalk just as the car pulled away, and Arya leaned over the blonde woman to roll down the window and shout, “Leave me alone!” At him before sitting back and putting on her seat belt.

The blonde was giving her a confused look, her brow arched as she stared at her. Arya gulped, fiddling with the hem of the wrinkled t-shirt.

She cleared her throat, “You said coffee before. Are you Waif?” She asked.

The blonde’s brow seemed to reach new heights before barking out a laugh, “I mean... _duh_. What the fuck are you talking about? Did you drink a whole bottle of absinthe or something?” 

“You’re waif!” Arya straightened, “And I’m getting coffee with you, so we’re friends?” 

Waif nodded, “Stop calling me that, freak. It’s just my pen name. For real, how hungover are you?”

Arya gulped, shaking her head, “I’m not. You’re my friend, so you’ll believe me when I tell you this?” 

“Oh god, you’re pregnant?” Waif groaned.

She gapped, “Ew! No! I can’t be pregnant, I’m barely 13!”

There was a silence in the car for a moment before Waif laughed awkwardly, “What are you talking about?” she drawled out.

“Yesterday was my thirteenth birthday. It was, I swear. I was there, and my dad gave me my personal computer, and Gendry made me the dollhouse, and Margaery wanted to play seven minutes in heaven and I...I…” Arya remembered bits and pieces. Being told Gendry wanted to kiss her. Realizing it was all a prank, Sansa and her friends laughing at her. She remembered thinking Gendry was somehow involved as well. She remembered screaming at him.

“Look, if you’re going to start lying about your age, I would go for like twenty-seven. But really, thirty isn’t so bad,” Waif commented.

Arya shook her head, groaning, “No, that’s not it!”

She needed Gendry, he would believe her. Where was he? Yes, she yelled at him yesterday, but she’d lost her temper with him before, and they always made up. Why wasn’t she getting morning coffee with Gendry instead of this unknown woman?

There was a _ding_ again, just like up in the apartment, causing Arya to jump and look around the car wildly, “What is that?!” she nearly shouted.

Waif gawked at her, “Calm down. It’s just your phone.”

“I don’t have a phone?” Arya was confused, yet again. What the hell was going on?

“Did you leave your cellphone at home? Come on, Arya, i am not making the LYFT driver turn around in this traffic.”

“I never had a cellphone!” she argued. Yeah, her family was rich, but only her father had one of the newer model Nokia phones. 

The _ding_ sound came one more time and Waif reached over and slid her hand under Arya’s butt. She jumped up, and felt Waif’s hand reach into her back pocket and pulled out the rectangular device.

Waif tapped at the home button before sighing, “It’s Griff. He’s texting you to remind you he has a game tonight and won’t be back in town until this weekend.”

“Griff? That blue haired guy?” 

Waif tossed the phone at Arya’s chest, “Okay, this is getting seriously annoying.”

Arya glared at her, and silently examined this ‘phone’ as Waif called it. She held it with her left hand and griped the front with her thumb. When her thumb pressed against the silver outlined circle the black screen lit up, revealing a screen with multiple rounded square icons with a few red circles in the corner with numbers. The background was a photograph of herself standing on a mountain overlooking a bright blue ocean, with white square buildings along the other mountains around her. 

“This is a phone,” She whispered to herself, seeing a telephone icon in the bottom corner. She read a few of the other icons, but did not know what they were. _Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify_ , these were all words she had never heard before.

The car drove through a Starbucks drive thru and the driver passed back the drinks. Waif handed Arya hers silently and she stared at it curiously. She was never allowed to drink coffee, her mother said it would make her too hyper. 

This drink was the largest coffee drink she’d seen, and it had an ombre look with white milk at the bottom leading into the brown coffee at the top of the cup. There was also ice cubes in the cup, and Arya wasn’t sure why she would order coffee that was normally hot, with ice cubes?

“It’s your usual. Iced latte macchiato. It’ll come in handy with that hangover of yours,” Waif commented, sipping her own coffee that appeared to have whipped cream and some kind of drizzle on top.

Arya hesitated before taking a big gulp of the drink. She nearly gagged from the sudden surprising taste, and her face scrunched up as she swallowed the cold drink. After a moment to get used to it, she decided it wasn’t awful, and took another drink, only this time a sip.

The car pulled off to the curb after another ten minutes and Waif jumped out of the car, calling out that she would give the driver ‘Five stars’ before ushering Arya out as well.

She stared around the busy streets as Waif fiddled with her purse, and noticed the building she was standing in front of.

“Is this…” Arya’s eyes grew wide.

“Work, yes,” Waif was nonchalant, tapping away at her phone once more as she walked towards the door.

“ _Wander_ magazine!” Arya gasped, feeling her stomach drop. 

Waif turned around, noticing the shocked look at her face. She sighed, walking up to Arya and locked her grip on Arya’s jawline, forcing her to look Waif directly in the eye.

“You need to chill. Take a deep breath, and repeat after me,” Waif took a deep breath, and Arya minicked her, “I am Arya Stark, big time magazine editor.”

“I am Arya Stark...big time...magazine editor,” Arya breathed, her voice light as she said it.

“I’m a bad bitch!” Waif said, her voice much higher with a grin on her lips.

Arya paused. She had said damn and hell before, but she was yet to use more serious language. Perhaps now was the time.

“I’m a bad... _bitch_!”

“I’m gonna march into that office and not let anyone know I’m hungover.”

“But I’m not-!”

“Ah!” Waif interrupted, her grip tightening on Arya’s jaw ever so slightly.

Arya rolled her eyes, “I’m gonna march into that office and not let anyone know I’m hungover.”

“Because the future of _Wander_ depends on me!” 

Waif released her grip, and Arya straightened, tugging her shirt down just a bit as she thought that phrase over.

“Because...because the future of _Wander_ depends on me.”

Waif smiled, before turning and leading the way into the building. Arya’s eyes darted around every inch of the lobby, the receptionists, even the elevator as they went all the way up to the 24th floor. 

As the doors slid open the office floor was buzzing. People were speed walking all over, carrying large papers and thin personal computers and larger versions of the phone Arya had, as well as people crowding around certain desks in the center of the office floor.

“Ms. Stark!” A redheaded woman who looked to be a few years older than Arya came hurrying over to them. Her wavy red hair was pulled up into a thick bun and a scarf was wrapped around her head and tied up with a bow. She was fiddling with a few colorful sticky notes in her hand, “Marshmello’s people called, and wanted to know if you had made your decision?”

Arya gaped, and she felt Waif’s eyes on her as the three of them walked farther down the hall.

The redheaded woman stopped at a desk with the nameplate Ros, and looked anxious for an answer.

“Toasted?!” Arya called over her shoulder. She met eyes with Waif, and she gave her an _‘Are you Serious?’_ look. 

“Uh...Peeps!?” She called again. Waif gave her the same look.

“I, uh, I like minis in my hot chocolate!” She called out once more, before Waif led her into a large conference room. 

There were a number of people Arya didn’t recognize, and she clumsily took a seat in the leather swivel chair next to Waif.

She placed her now empty coffee cup out in front of her and stared around the large room curiously. There was a wall of floor to ceiling windows behind her, all with the blinds pulled down, and along the far wall were magazine covers from the last twelve months, one of _Wander_ ’s and one of _Braavos Entertainment_. 

Her brows furrowed, and she wonder what one had to do with the other. Both covered international things, but _Braavos_ leaned more towards fashion, advice, and gossip. _Wander_ was more travel, sightseeing, and world issues.

The redhead, Ros, hurried into the room carrying one of those large rectangular device ( _bigger cell phones?_ ), and a styrofoam cup with ice water. She placed the larger cell phone and water in front of Arya and leaned down, “Would you like anything else, Ms. Stark?” she muttered.

“Like a favor?” She asked, arching her brow.

Ros gave her a confused look, “I-I mean, I’m your secretary. Do you need something?”

Arya’s mouth formed an O and she nodded, “Oh, oh yeah!” she motioned for Ros to come closer, “I need you to get a phone number for me. His name is Gendry Waters, he’s from New York, but moved upstate in 2000, we went to private school together,” she explained rather quickly, and Ros pulled a sticky note and pen from her pocket to scribble all this down.

Suddenly an older man with shoulder length brown hair walked in, and the room grew silent. Arya noticed the quick change of mood and saw Ros hurry out of the room, shutting the door behind her. The older man had a few streaks of white running through his hair, but they looked to be there on purpose, and he wore a dark grey suit with a dark purple button down on under his jacket. He radiated a aura of quiet fury as he looked around at the employees before stopping at the head of the conference table.

He fiddled with some files that were already placed at the end of the table before a tearing sound was heard and he held up the cover of _Braavos Entertainment_ for the room to see. He walked towards the wall and pinned it as hard as he could next to the _Wander_ cover that was under the May tag.

“Okay children; This is the twelfth month that we have been scooped by _BE_. Twelve! It’s almost like they have...little birds delivering every detail back to their editors!”

“Jaqen,” Waif sighed, “We’ve been upping security, the tech team are working on new firewalls, verification codes to access certain files, Arya fired Lucy yesterday,” Waif pointed to Arya next to her.

“Did you?” Jaqen asked, eyeing Arya.

She froze, her mouth hanging open slightly as she reached for her water.

Without missing a beat, Jaqen nodded, “Good, I guarantee she had friends at _BE_. People! Our party tonight is now going to be the biggest thing to kick off summer. We need to make a statement that _Wander_ is still hot and relevant. Now, first thing we’ll need to take apart our F.O.B., overhaul the B.O.B., think about new heads, decks, and slugs. Stark, what do you think?” 

All eyes turned to Arya and she felt herself freeze again. F.O.B.? B.O.B.? She had no idea what he was talking about.

“Can I go to the bathroom?”

**_0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o_ **

Arya hurried down the hallway but came to a stop when she noticed an office door with her name on it. She pushed the door open and sighed in relief to be out of sight of all these strangers eyes.

She stared around the brightly lit office, the walls scattered with photographs of different locations around the world, of runway models, of magazine clippings. She had framed photographs hanging between the windows and walked over, staring at each one.

There were two framed photos of her standing closely with the blue haired man from that morning, and she furrowed her brow as she stared at his face. Now that she wasn’t freaking out over the sight of a naked man, she realized his face looked almost familiar to her but she couldn't quite place his face.

She moved on to see other framed photos of her standing next to a number of different important looking people, including a framed autographed photo of Jennifer Lopez.

“ _‘Arya babe, hit me up for drinks anytime you’re in town. Love, JLo.’_ Oh my god, am I friends with JLo?” She whispered, a smile spreading on her face.

A rapid knocking came from her office door causing her to jump. She ran over and quickly opened the door just enough to stick her head out.

Ros was standing there, clutching a few sticky notes in her hands.

“Oh! Uh, sorry to bother you, Ms. Stark. Here are your morning messages, and your mother called you from Florence this morning,” Ros rambled.

“My mom? My mom is in Florence? Why didn’t you tell me?” Arya asked, shocked.

Ros looked confused, “B-Because you said never to bother you with family calls at work.”

“Oh...did I say that?” Arya asked, frowning. Why would she say such a thing?

“Please don’t fire me,” Ros muttered, her brow worrying.

“No! No! It’s okay, I just...forgot I said that,” Arya reassured her, the frown still on her lips, “Just, next time my mom calls please let me know.”

Ros nodded quickly, “Yes, yes ma’am. Oh! I, uh, I have that information you asked for about that man,”

“Gendry!” Arya said a bit too loudly, and she grabbed Ros’s wrist, pulling her into the office and shutting the door quickly behind her.

Ros cleared her throat, “Uh, well, I assumed you were talking about Gendry Baratheon, as I looked it up and he was the only Gendry going to your private school the same time as you,”

“He took his dad’s name? What?” Arya asked aloud, shocked.

Ros hesitated, before looking back down at her sticky notes, “Uh, well, I couldn’t get a phone number for him, but I was able to hunt him down to an apartment building in Washington Heights,”  
Ros handed Arya a sticky note with an address written on it. 

Arya was beaming, and ran out of the office. She heard Ros call after her, saying something about cancelling a 2:30 meeting, but Arya didn’t care. She needed to find Gendry! 

She looked through her phone and saw an icon that said LYFT, and she remembered the car ride to work. She opened it, and saw she had a credit card linked to her own account, as well as a “request a ride” button. She quickly tapped it, and typed in the address written on the sticky note, and a message appeared to say the driver would be there in two minutes. Once she made it to the sidewalk she saw a silver Toyota pull up with a purple LYFT sticker on their windshield and she jumped into the back.

The drive uptown was long, and Arya tapped her foot anxiously in anticipation. What was Gendry going to look like seventeen years older? It was nearly ten am, would he even be home at this time? Wasn’t this normally the time grown ups were at work? 

The LYFT pulled to a stop outside a tall red brick apartment building and Arya jumped out, mentioning a five star rating like Waif had earlier, but was unsure how to do that.

She walked towards the doorway of the apartment building, and scanned the list of residents along the side. 

_4G: Baratheon, G_

Arya gulped, before reaching up and pressing the buzzer next to his name.

She waited, and waited. She buzzed again.

After a moment, she felt she had missed him and was ready to park it on the stoop until he walked up to the building whenever he got off of work.

Instead, she heard static coming from the callbox.

“Hello? Hello?” A deep voice called through the box.

Arya beamed, and pressed the call button, “Yes, Gendry! Is this Gendry? If this is Gendry Waters and you went to Kings Private Academy and you love everything about cars and you hate the wealthy and their snobby attitudes, then I need you to buzz me in! I need to talk to you! It’s me, it’s Arya!” 

There was a pause before the the staticy response came, “Uh, yeah, I didn’t get any of that. If you’re from Brekky’s delivery buzz twice, if not-”

Arya quickly reached for the buzzer and buzzed twice as asked. She heard the apartment doors unlock and ran for them, hurrying inside towards the elevator.

She reached the fourth floor and ran down the hall to 4G, rapidly knocking until she heard the doorknob jiggle.

She dropped her hand as the door opened just enough for him to see out of, the chain link lock still connecting the door to the frame.

Arya studied his face, her lips growing in a smile and falling, and growing once again. She wasn’t sure how to feel.

This was Gendry, but wasn’t. Just like she was Arya, but wasn’t. His chubby cheeks and bare face were replaced with chiseled features and a strong jawline covered in a stubbly beard. His bright blue eyes seemed darker almost, and his shaggy dark hair was cut short on the sides and quaffed at the front.

His thick brows were furrowed together as he stared at her, “Uh...you’re not breakfast,” he muttered, looking Arya up and down.

She smiled, shaking her head, studying him. Damn, seventeen years and he was still taller than her! 

“ _Gendry_...Gendry, look at you! You’re so _different_. Well, I’m different too, but yesterday you weren't, you were you. But that doesn’t make sense because I’m not thirteen,” she muttered, feeling as if she was passing her own confusion to him.

“Arya…” Gendry trailed.

She perked, nodding, “Yes!”

“Arya Stark?” Gendry questioned.

She nodded again, “Yes, it’s me, Gendry!”

The door slammed shut.

She froze, her eyes widening. _What?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all you wonderful comments and kudos!  
> Please let me know what you think about this chapter.  
> And, as always, I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes. I'm doing this on my own, and no matter how many times I proof read my chapters I always end up missing something.


	4. Chapter 4

Arya went to knock again when she heard the chainlink lock clang on the other side of the door and it was opened once more, Gendry standing there, leaning his hand against the frame and his mouth a tight line.

Arya beamed, and jumped forward, locking him in a hug. He didn’t return it though, and instead took in a deep breath, “Come on in,” she heard him mutter.

She broke the hug and gave him a weak smile, walking past him into the apartment, her eyes scanning every inch.

The walls were covered in different framed photographs; multiple ones of vintage cars, and others of people in abstract settings, as well as paintings and framed maps. She walked into the living room area and saw a bright green sofa and brown leather recliner, with a large flat rectangular box sitting on a television stand. 

_‘So those are TVs!’_ She thought, nodding her head as all those flat rectangles in her own apartment now made sense to her.

“Are these photos...yours?” Arya asked, spinning around in a circle as she looked at each and every frame. The walls were hardly visible there were so many photos. 

Gendry slowly followed her through the apartment, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders hunched forward slightly. He appeared nervous, anxious even. Why was he acting like this? He was her best friend.

“Well, yeah, it pays the bills.”

Arya gave him a look, “What happened to cars?” 

He pointed to the wall of photos behind him leading to the door, “I photograph cars. I work most of the vintage car shows,” he explained.

She shook her head, “No, you used to love learning about cars and engines. I thought you wanted to...I don’t know...build cars? Or something more hands on,” She shrugged.

Gendry had the ghost of a smile on his lips, and he squinted his eyes just slightly, “Uh...that was more a childhood hobby. I mean, I change my own oil...but yeah I started focusing on photography once I started ninth grade.”

Gendry cleared his throat, “But...Arya what are you doing here?”

Arya gave him a look, stepping closer to him, “Gendry...something really weird is happening. I need your help.”

He opened his mouth to respond, but Arya cut him off by motioning to herself.

“Yesterday was my thirteenth birthday. I woke up today and I just...I’m _this_!” She waved to her body, “And you’re _that_!” she waved to him.

Gendry’s brows were furrowed, a look of pure confusion on his face, “Are you high?” he asked.

“What?” Arya questioned, staring at him.

“Are you smoking pot? Xanax? Doing hard drugs?” Gendry listed off.

“No!” Arya argued, shocked he would even think she’d do that. “No, I was there, I was in my closet. You were banging on the door. It all happened yesterday. I just...I skipped everything getting here. I don’t remember my life. That’s why I’m here, I need you to help me remember my life!”

Gendry nodded, but the look of confusion was still on his face, “Oh, uh...I can’t do that.”

Arya cocked her head to the side, confused, “What? Why?” 

He gawked at her, a disbelieving laugh escaping him, “I don’t know _anything_ about you, Arya. I haven’t seen you since high school. If this is some weird, drug induced prank you’re deciding to play, it’s really bad; but we aren’t friends anymore, so I can’t help you.” 

Her face fell, and she took a step back, “W-What?” She whispered, a pained look crossing her face.

She backed up until the back of her legs hit the green sofa and she fell back onto it.

Gendry’s expression softened as he saw the hurt in her expression and he took a tentative step forward, “Uh, hey, look it’s cool,” he muttered.

Arya felt as if she was having a panic attack. Her heart was pounding in her ears and she felt as if she couldn’t breath. How could this have happened? Gendry is her best friend. She’d beat up kids who called him a bastard and he teased her about being short and he told her that she could teach him to ride one of her family’s many horses once summer came around and she’d have dinner at his house with his mom every few weeks. He was part of her pack. 

“Maybe you need some water? Fresh air?” Gendry asked, holding out his hands, unsure what to do.

“I need a pillow,” Arya muttered, “It’s hot, I need a cold pillow!” Her voice was a lot higher than she expected, and she was bouncing on the couch and fanning herself as she tried to breath.

Gendry jumped back, nodding, and hurried down the hallway off the living room to what Arya assumed was the kitchen. 

He carried a large white pillow and a glass of water in his hands when he returned, and passed both to Arya before awkwardly leading her to his door and downstairs to the ground floor.

She sat down on the steps of the building, clutching the pillow to her chest and chugging the large cup of water while Gendry watched her from the curb.

“I think you should head home, Arya. I...uh, I can help you get back if you don’t remember,” Gendry offered rubbing the back of his neck.

She held the water in her mouth for a moment, her cheeks puffing out as she slushed the liquid around between her cheeks before swallowing. She nodded, frowning.

Gendry returned the cup and pillow upstairs before rejoining Arya on the steps. He asked to see her phone, and when she did not know what her passcode was, he reached over and took her hand in his.

Arya thought about yesterday, and how nervous she felt thinking about kissing Gendry. Now here they were, hand in hand. He didn’t seem as affected, as he simply used her thumb to press against the circle on the phone, the screen lighting up from it.

“Does doing that turn it on?” Arya asked.

Gendry looked back at her, confused. After a moment, he nodded, “Uh...right, you can’t remember anything,” he didn’t sound like he believed what he said, but he still pointed to the phone.

“This is your iPhone. You use your thumbprint to unlock the phone, so only you can unlock it. I’m checking to see if you have Lyft or Waze in your phone, hopefully it’ll have your address in it,” he explained, speaking a little slower and watching her face as he explained.

She nodded, “What are they exactly? Lyft is like a taxi, right?” 

Gendry nodded, suppressing a sigh, “Uh, sort of,” He went on to explain the purposes of the two apps, ordering a Lyft as he did so. He also went on to explain the purpose of the rest of the apps on her phone until the Lyft arrived.

“You’re coming home with me, right?” Arya asked as the Lyft approached.

Gendry hesitated, staring at Arya’s face for a moment before sighing, nodding his head, “Sure,” he muttered.

Once they climbed into the silver prius, Arya turned to look at Gendry, “Why did you say we aren’t best friends anymore? What happened?” Her voice was quiet, still not completely accepting a future without Gendry in it.

He shrugged, avoiding her eyes, “Look, it was a long time ago. We drifted apart, went to different colleges. You went to work at _Wander_ and I spent seven years photographing weddings and childrens portraits before finally getting my own stuff published. It happens,” he explained.

“But didn’t we see each other at holidays? Your dad and my dad are best friends, we always saw each other on Thanksgiving and Christmas,” she argued.

Gendry shrugged, “My dad died before I graduated high school, Arya. Only reason I got to stay at the academy is because Renly made sure dad updated his will so I’d get an inheritance for school. I think I saw you, once, maybe six years ago through a shop window back upstate.”

“Six years ago?” Arya repeated, shocked.

Gendry nodded, “We ran in different crowds, Arya. I joined yearbook at the upper school, you joined the school newspaper.”

“But...the party,” Arya muttered, staring down at her lap. What happened after? What happened when she walked out of the closet? Surely Gendry didn’t abandon her in there. He had to have kept banging. 

He turned to look at her and sighed, “Look, I’ll play along as best I can, for old time’s sake. Is there anything else you want to know?”

She looked back up at him, “Well, can you tell me anything about my family? I didn’t have any photos of them in my office at _Wander_ , and I don’t remember seeing any photos at my apartment either.”

Gendry took in a deep breath and shrugged, “Well, off the top of my head, I think your parents handed the company down to Sansa, and she’s this hardcore feminist on twitter,”

“What?” Arya gaped, disbelieving. 

Gendry nodded, reaching for his own phone and tapping on a blue icon with a white bird on it, “Yeah, she’s always retweeting stuff about gender equality, the #MeToo movement, and she speaks at those rallies too. She’s really made a name for herself, not just as a rich CEO,” He showed Arya his phone screen, revealing a page with multiple posts from her sister.

“As for your brothers, I don’t know too much. Robb plays professional baseball for the Yankees, but it’s the off season right now so there aren’t much reports about it. Jon is in the military, and Bran and Rickon I don’t know too much about, they don’t really do much to warrant trending topics on twitter,” he shrugged, pocketing his phone. 

“I don’t get this,” Arya muttered, leaning back against the seat, “How could I have been happy with this future when it seems like I have no relationship with my family and I don’t have you in my life?” She asked, turning her head to look at him.

Gendry gulped, quickly looking away from her to stare out her window, “I don’t know,” he muttered, “It’s what you decided a long time ago.”

**_0o0o0o0o0o0o0o_ **

Arya insisted Gendry come up to her apartment, not wanting him to leave just yet. The doorman in the lobby met her eyes, and when she smiled and waved at him he looked surprised, but quickly returned the gesture.

She frowned as they stood in the elevator, wondering why her own doorman seemed surprised by her friendliness. 

They walked silently to her apartment door, Arya finding her keys in the back pocket of her jeans and letting the two of them in.

Gendry suggested looking for a yearbook, explaining it might jog her memories. Arya agreed, and after twenty minutes of searching they were able to find a stack of them in the cabinet under her coffee table.

Arya sat crisscross on her sofa while Gendry examined the photographs and art hanging around her apartment. 

“I was editor in chief of the academy’s newspaper by my sophomore year?” Arya asked, her eyebrows raising in surprise.

“Yup,” Gendry popped the _p_ as he said it, studying a large painting of a purple face with light bulbs for eyes. 

She pulled a folder out from the group of yearbooks and flipped through the contents, noticing they were printouts and newspaper clippings between 2008 and 2010. 

“I was doing so much in college; running the campus newspaper, interning at _Travel + Leisure_. I visited a different country nearly every break,” she was smiling as she read over each note, plane ticket, and newspaper clipping.

“And now I’m an editor at _Wander_ , with my own big apartment. I can’t believe it,” She breathed, “I got everything I ever wanted.”

“Yup, yup, you got it all, Arya, congratulations,” Gendry muttered, sighing.

There was a repetitive dinging sound from Arya’s back pocket and she turned to look at Gendry. He nodded towards her, “You should probably get that.”

She nodded, realizing it was her cellphone, and grabbed it. It was an unknown number, and there was a bar at the bottom that she could slide to answer the call.

She did as the screen said and held the phone up, “Uh, hello?” 

“Hello this is Greta from _Luxury Limos_ calling to confirm your trip this evening at 7 o’clock,” a perky woman’s voice rang through the line.

Arya hesitated, thinking it over before nodding, “Uh, yes, I can confirm the trip. Where am I going, exactly?” 

“The Palace, 27 Wall Street,” the woman said after a moment.

Arya nodded, a wave of excitement coming over her, “Okay, thank you.” 

She hung up her phone before spinning around on the couch to look at Gendry, a large smile on her face, “I’m going to a party tonight in my own limo!”

He smirked, staring down at his feet, “Yeah, that’s great,” he turned and began walking towards the door, “Looks like you’re good, so I’m gonna go,”

“Wait,” Arya called, her smile fading, “You don’t want to go to the party?”

He hesitated, before shaking his head, “No, uh, I have a work thing I need to do,”

Arya knew he was lying. He had a very obvious tell: his hesitation and vague excuse. She always caught him in a lie when they were kids.

“Well,” Arya stood, walking over to him, “I’m guessing I don’t have your number in this phone. Put it in, that way I can call you and we can hang out again.”

He clenched his jaw, staring down at the space between them, “Arya, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he muttered.

“At least think about coming to the party then,” She tried, stepping closer until they were just a foot apart. “It’s at 27 Wall Street, 7 o’clock. I’ll put your name on the list.”

He met her eyes. They were still a good few inches apart in height. Arya figured she had grown a few inches in the last seventeen years, but she was still barely 5’1”, and Gendry stood at 5’10” at least. Staring up at his dark blue eyes like this, it helped Arya feel like she was still just that thirteen year old girl, looking up at Gendry’s fourteen year old face as he blushed presenting her dreamhouse.

“I’ll think about it,” he said, his voice quiet as they stared. He gulped before breaking their gaze and quickly left Arya standing alone in her apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments, and for leaving kudos, and bookmarking this story. It means a lot to me!   
> I also apologize for any spelling or grammar errors in this chapter. I proof read multiple times, but I still end up missing something. Please forgive me! And let me know what you think of this one! :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because it's not a party without this dance...

Arya spent the rest of her afternoon looking through every inch of her apartment, trying to get an idea of what her life is now.

Her personal computer was much different than the one her father gave her at her 13th birthday; it was called a _MacBook Pro_ , and it was half the size of her _Dell_ computer! She located the box for the _MacBook_ on a high shelf in the hall closet and was able to find the owner's manual for the device, reading it thoroughly to make sure she knew exactly how to use it. Once she had a hang of it, she began exploring the files and internet.

She found a few photo files from three christmases ago, showing her and her siblings with their aged parents at their home upstate. She smiled, looking over everyone’s changed faces. She could see the age on her parents' faces the most, and her father’s short locks were lighter with flecks of grey, while it appeared her mother was dying her long hair to retain it’s red coloring. 

She remembered that Ros had said they were currently in Florence, but she had no idea when they’d be returning. She hoped soon, so she could go see them and ask them everything she's missed.

Once she had finished going through all the files she began searching through the internet. Her homepage was _Google_ , and she began searching for information on the apps on her phone. She found her own _Facebook_ page, as well as _Twitter_ , and the _Wander_ website. She decided to read up on the company, as she had a feeling things were different now compared to when she was 13. 

She frowned as she read over the history of _Wander_ , seeing that they did a major overhaul of the magazine in 2006 when it was sold to a new owner. They still included articles about the world, and traveling, but they expanded their demographic to include fashion and celebrity news worldwide. 

Arya frowned. Her favorite magazine had sold out. She felt as if she just watched her father do something terrible...like kick a puppy! This was a blow she wasn’t expecting.

She thought back to her office, and remembered seeing the maps, and she had seen photos of herself in other countries. Perhaps working at a magazine that wasn’t solely about world adventure wasn’t so bad. Maybe she didn’t even have to write about other stuff besides travel! She decided that had to be it, as she wouldn’t work for a company she didn’t like. That _definitely_ wasn’t her.

She even noticed on the account on _Twitter_ that she linked to another person a lot. She clicked the ‘@’ in one of her posts and it brought her to another person’s page, and she recognized the person.

“That’s Waif!” She said aloud, studying the blonde woman’s face in her account photo. Next to the @ symbol was _wander_waif_ , and her name alongside it was Evelyn Turner. She nodded, remembering that Waif, _er_ , Evelyn, told her that it was just a pen name that morning.

As the day went on she decided she’d need to get ready for the party, and began getting cleaned up. She showered, and walked around her large walk-in closet, staring at the multiple items of clothing, unsure what to wear. She ran back into her living room and began tapping away at the _MacBook_ , opening up a file she had seen earlier with party photos in it.

They were from work parties, and she studied the different outfits she had worn to the events. Some were brightly colored dresses, with her hair dyed to match, and others were very sexy pantsuits with her cleavage exposed through an opening in the jacket.

She cringed, not a fan of either option. She decided on a pair of tightly fitted black dress pants with a high waist, paired with an orange and green floral blouse. She scowled at her wall of shoes and saw she mostly had wedges and high heels, and only two pairs of hiking boots, one pair of sneakers, and a ratty pair of chucks. She sighed, deciding she would have to wear a pair of orange high heels. She might have been thirteen yesterday, but her 30 year old self seemed to wear heels a lot so she’d try it out for a night.

She blow dried her hair and brushed her bangs back similarly to how she wore it when she was thirteen. She refused to touch the makeup in the bathroom through. She had never learned how to apply the stuff, and she did not want to look like a clown at a work party. 

It was nearly 7, and she grabbed her wallet and cellphone before making her way to the elevator.

There was a young girl waiting for the elevator as well. She had mousy brown hair tied into a dutch braid, and she was wearing a navy blue plain dress while carrying a very large red purse. Arya smiled at her, and the girl looked apprehensive to smile back. 

They stood in the elevator silently, both heading to the ground floor.

“I like your braids,” Arya commented, turning to the girl.

She looked surprised, reaching up with one hand to grab the end of her braid, “Oh, thank you,” she muttered.

The silence felt like it was weighing on Arya, and she frowned. Something was off, and she wasn’t sure what.

“I...like your purse, too,” Arya added, pointing to the red bag.

The girl looked over at her, “Why are you being nice to me?”

Arya frowned, shrugging, “We’re neighbors; why not?”

“You always scowl at me, and never say hello when I say it. You’re always...so cold,” she explained, looking a bit embarrassed for saying it.

Arya gulped. She had learned a lot about herself as a grown up today, but hearing that she was cold to someone who was just a kid? Arya always hated adults like that. Was that really who she was now? 

_‘No,’_ Arya thought, _‘I’m not cold. I’m Arya Stark. I’m gonna make this right.’_

She shook her head, giving the girl a smile, “I’m sorry, but that’s not me anymore. I’m Arya,” She stuck out her hand to shake.

The girl paused, before smiling and returning the gesture.

“I’m Wendy,” she reached down and unzipped her purse, and the slender head of a small animal poked out, “This is my pet. His name is Weasel.”

Arya beamed, and knelt down to get a better look at him, “Isn’t he also a weasel?”

Wendy shrugged, giggling, “I got him when I was seven. I wasn’t too creative.”

“How old are you now?” Arya asked curiously.

“Thirteen.”

She grinned, “Me too!”

Wendy furrowed her brows, giving Arya a confused look.

She quickly shook her head, shrugging, “Uh, I used to be.” 

The elevator dinged, and Wendy quickly arranged Weasel back into the purse, zipping it up. The two walked down the lobby and waved to the doorman.

“Are you going to a party?” Wendy asked.

Arya nodded, “You?” 

Wendy pointed towards a man standing outside, “Meeting my dad for dinner. Have fun at your party.”

“Thanks,” Arya held the door open for Wendy, “Have fun at dinner!” They waved goodbye, and Arya grinned as she turned to look at the large black limo parked along the curb.

She stared around the inside in awe, stretching out on the white leather seats and staring at the long bar built into the opposite side of the limousine. There were clear plastic cups, cloth napkins, and chilled champagne. There were two small flat screen televisions built into the divider between the back and the driver side of the limo. There was even an old style telephone with a cord at the end of the bar near the door, along with controls for the televisions and sunroof, and Arya believed that the phone was for speaking to the driver.

She debated reaching for the champagne, but instead leaned over and pressed the button for the sunroof to open, carefully standing up and poking her body out through the roof.

She smiled in amazement at all the bright lights of the city as they drove through an intersection at Time Square. Her heart was thumping in her ears as she felt a sense of childlike wonder. Every kid talked about that freeing feeling of climbing to the top of the highest tree, or looking out at the lake as you hang suspended on the rope before jumping in. She could feel that same feeling fill her up as what was happening to her really took effect. She was thirty. She was in Manhattan. In a limo, going to a party for _Wander_ magazine. She might have made some poor choices leading up to this moment, but now she could fix it. She was hopeful, and looking up the city aglow in the bright lights filled her with that freeing sensation.

She returned to the inside of the limo and spent the rest of the ride trying to time how quickly she could get from one end of the limo to the other, giggling and tripping over her heels every few minutes. 

The driver gave her a confused look as he held the door open for her once they got there, her hair slightly frizzy and her amused grin still plastered on her face as she hurried out.

“Thanks, five stars!” Arya called to the driver before walking up the steps to the building. She was unsure how she would rate him five stars, but she figured there had to be a way. 

She followed the signs leading towards a very large, two story ballroom with a domed ceiling. The room was dark, with multiple colorful lights aimed in every which direction. A deejay was placed along the back wall, with a loud, repetitive beat coming through the speakers. 

No one was dancing, instead all the guests were mingled along the edge of the dance floor, up the staircase near the entrance, and standing along the wrap around balcony on the second level. There was a large bar about fifty feet from the entrance, and Arya saw Evelyn sitting on a bar stool at the end.

She hurried up to her, “Hello, Evelyn,” She grinned, stepping in front of her. This was her friend, and she was going to stick by her to see exactly what type of friend she was.

Evelyn made a face, “Ugh, finally, you stopped with the waif shit,” She smirked after a moment and took a sip of her cocktail.

Arya turned and looked towards the bartender.

“Can I get you something?” She asked, noticing Arya’s look.

She paused. She had tried coffee that morning, but this was something completely different. Should she? According to Evelyn, she did drink alcohol. After all, she was thirty.

“Um,” She chewed on her bottom lip, unsure what to order. She thought back on the many times her parents ordered drinks when they were out to eat. 

“I’ll have a Long Island Iced Tea,” She said, straightening her shoulders back, hoping it helped her feel as old as she looked.

The woman nodded, and began mixing and shaking all the different ingredients before pouring the brown liquid and ice into a tall, slim glass. She garnished it with a lemon, dropped a thin black straw in, and placed it on the bar counter in front of Arya.

She stared at the glass for a moment, before picking it up and taking a long sip of the drink.

**_0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o_ **

Arya really liked Long Island Iced Teas.

She had lost count of how many she’d had as the bartender kept handing her a new one each time she put her empty glass down. She and Evelyn had made rounds around the ballroom earlier in the evening, but were now settled at the bar, Evelyn chatting with a few coworkers as they passed and looking frustrated with the calmness of the party.

No one was dancing yet, and the large groups of people scattered across the room had dwindled slightly in the last few hours.

Arya was sucking the juice out of the lemon slice that decorated her drink, and carelessly chucked it behind her shoulder onto the bar counter before taking a large gulp. 

She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone to check the time and laughed.

Evelyn turned to look at her and Arya was happily beaming, “It’s 11 o’clock on a school night and I’m at a party. This is so crazy.”

Evelyn rolled her eyes, “It’s 11 o’clock and people are _leaving_! What the hell is happening to the partiers of New York?” Evelyn hissed, glaring at another group of four walking towards the exit. 

“Oh, God,” She groaned.

Arya perked, taking another large gulp of her drink and looking past Evelyn’s shoulders to see what it was.

“Why the hell is _BE_ ’s editor in chief Varys Lys doing here?” Evelyn’s lips were turned down in a complete scowl as she glared at the older man walking up to them. He was bald, wearing a dark suit with golden accents with red pointed shoes, and he had a smug looking smirk on his lips.

“Hello ladies,” He said, stopping before them, “Terribly slow evening, isn’t it? Makes one even question who would throw a party on a Monday night.”

“Oh please, Varys. Is your life so miserable you had to dress yourself up and crash your competitions party? Please, grab a shrimp cocktail, return to your empty apartment, and wallow in your terribly lonely existence in private,” Evelyn snarled, crossing her arms over her chest.

Varys smirked, “Now, now, Evelyn, you might want to save that biting wit for your own diminishing magazine. Or perhaps a name change is in order? Perhaps Dawdle or Drifter before you’re off the stands completely.”

“Hey,” Arya interjected, her brows furrowed, She pointed her drink in Varys' direction, “You are _rude_. You are rude, and snotty, and your shoes look funny. I don’t like you at all,” She declared, taking another long gulp of her drink.

Varys gave her a knowing look, his smirk turning into a small smile, “Well, I never cared much about being liked. I only care about the best magazine coming out on top,” He nodded towards Arya before stepping past the two girls and continuing on his stroll through the room.

Evelyn glanced at Arya as she hummed to herself, chugging down the remainder of the drink, oblivious in her current state to any side eyed stares.

Just as Varys left, Jaqen hurried up to them and waved them both to their feet.

As Arya stood she felt a rush of dizziness take over her, and she struggled to find her balance in the heels. She leaned back against the bar stool as Jaqen spoke.

“What the hell is happening? Last year people were tweeting about how this party was the hottest thing in Manhattan and this year everyone’s running for the door as if a giant stink bomb exploded!” He ranted, his voice dangerously low and a fiery look in his eyes.

Arya perked at this, and she gaped at him, “What? I don’t smell a thing!” she said a bit too loudly. She was very familiar with stink bombs. Her and Bran used to set them off near the principal's office at the academy, and when Arya became friends with Gendry she used to help him set them off at his dad's house near Cersei's private study's window to piss her off. 

Evelyn rolled her eyes, “No, dummy, he means that the party stinks.”

Arya’s mouth formed an _O_ and she nodded, looking around the room, “Well, maybe if you played some better music! Something that makes people dance!”

Jaqen chuckled, “Darling, play whatever you like, as long as we get back on trending!” He held up his phone, showing her a list of things from that website _Twitter_.

Arya grinned, and slammed the empty glass down on the bar counter behind her. She grabbed Evelyn’s shoulder and used her as a support to remove the heels from her feet, and once her bare feet hit the cold tiles of the ballroom floor, she hurried off across the large room to the deejay table.

Arya stood on her tiptoes and motioned for the deejay to lean towards her so she could inform him what to play.

He struggled not to laugh, giving her a confused look, “For real?” 

She nodded, grinning, “It’ll get everyone dancing!”

He laughed, nodding his head before fiddling with his personal computer.

Arya walked towards the center of the dance floor, and all eyes in the room were suddenly on her as the deejay’s music was cut off and the room fell into silence as he began pulling up the song she requested.

She smiled around at the unfamiliar faces, and gave a wave towards Evelyn and Jaqen as the familiar beat began pulsing through the speakers and everyone in the room instantly knew exactly what she had requested.

Jaqen slapped his hand up to his face, sighing deeply.

DJ Casper’s voice seemed to boom in Arya’s ears as the song began, and the _‘Funky, funky, funky’_ seemed to almost go on for much longer than she remembered as she eagerly waited for others to join her on the dance floor.

_Everybody clap your hands!_

Arya kept the smile on her face, and began clapping to the beat. Perhaps she just needed to start the first round, to get everyone comfortable.

As she clapped a spotlight from the second story hit her face and she winced slightly, raising her hands up to shield her eyes from the brightness.

She kept scanning the crowds just before the instructions started and saw a familiar face walk in the door.

She beamed, “Gendry!” she called, continuing her clapping as DJ Casper’s voice listed off the dance instructions to the beat.

He gave her a weak smile and wave. He had changed from his t-shirt and jeans from that morning and now wore a dark navy blue button down and dress pants. He was standing off towards the end of a small crowd by the door, not even having a moment to observe the party before Arya spotted him.

“Gendry! Gendry, come here! It’s the _Cha-Cha Slide_!” She called, waving him over eagerly. She remembered at their school’s winter dance when she was twelve, she and Gendry were goofing around and were taking the song way too seriously as they went face to face on the dance floor. By the end of the song they were in a hysterical fit, laughing and doubling over in their glee.

The memory was fresh in her mind as she ran over to Gendry, who was firmly shaking his head no as she approached.

Another spotlight turned to him and he turned to glare at the light, shouting up at them to turn it off.

Arya grabbed his arm and tugged him out, “Come on, come on, come on! It’ll be like Winter Formal!” She urged, tugging on his sleeve.

“No! No, no, no way. I haven’t even heard this song since junior prom,” he protested, shaking his head. Arya huffed, firmly dragging him to the center of the floor.

“Don’t worry, the song tells you what to do!” She reassured him.

She positioned him right next to her and just as the first _cha-cha_ ended, she did a very exaggerated jump spin, grinning at Gendry as she swayed her hips to the beat. He half heartedly turned around, his feet dragging slightly with a look of embarrassment on his face. Arya nodded at him, hoping he would remember the formal and that old look of glee would return.

_To the left, take it back now y’all_

Arya and Gendry both took a step to their left, and Arya swayed back a step while Gendry nearly stumbled back to keep up with the lyrics.

_One hop this time, right foot let’s stomp_

Arya jumped up, and Gendry bounced up on his toes to imitate a hop. Arya reached over and swatted at his right leg to get him to do a serious stomp, and he tried to swat her hand away, a small smirk on his lips as he nodded, taking her seriously this time.

_Left foot let’s stomp, cha cha now y’all_

Arya obnoxiously stomped her left foot, and Gendry imitated her, before the two began _cha cha_ ing in place, both of them sharing a look of familiar amusement.

_Turn around_

As Arya turned she saw people beginning to walk towards the dance floor, all chuckling and beginning to follow along to the old song.

She looked back at Evelyn and Jaqen and they also seemed to notice the people joining in. People were lining up in rows, similar to how Arya remembered it at her Winter Formal, everyone giggling and clapping along as they went with the dance. A few girls in the front row were holding up their phones and taking photos and videos as the group got larger and larger.

_Slide to the left, slide to right, criss cross_

Arya slid too closely to Gendry and collided into him, and he laughed, reaching his arm around her and steadying her to slide to their right. Her grin faltered and she looked up at his face with his arm around her back gripping her. He looked different from this morning. He looked like he was having fun, like his smile was genuine. It was as if he hadn’t smiled like that in years.

Gendry straightened her when it was time to criss cross and his hand dropped down and lingered towards her own left hand as they both jumped to criss cross their legs in rhythm with the rest of the party goers. Arya went to grab his hand with hers as DJ Casper instructed them to begin _cha cha_ ing once more and Gendry’s arms went towards his side as he began swaying his hips and stepping to the beat, completely missing Arya’s reach.

People off to the side of the dance floor were all cheering for the dancers, some even doing their own little _cha cha_ as they watched. Evelyn and Jaqen eventually joined in as well, and Arya kept looking towards Gendry with the largest grin she could muster. It was just like their Winter Formal, and she couldn’t wait for the end of the song where they laugh and double over. They might not end the night stealing toilet paper from the bathrooms and throwing the rolls all over the baseball field, but she hoped this might help recapture their friendship to Gendry.

The two met eyes and he gave her a small smile before his _cha cha_ came to slow stop. She stepped to the left, and Gendry began walking off the dance floor.

“Arya, I’m sorry, I have to leave,” He called over the loud music.

Her dancing halted, and she reached out and grabbed his hand, “No, Gendry, wait,”

“I’m sorry,” he called again, and slowly slid his hand out from hers before walking off the dance floor to the exit.

She frowned, shaking her head.

Jaqen moonwalked towards her, holding up his phone, “I adore you!” He called, grabbing her outstretched hand and kissing it. He showed her his phone screen and saw it was a short video of their large group dancing on _Twitter_ , the number of likes and retweets growing.

She gave him a small smile before glancing around at all the dancing people. She gulped, and ran off the dance floor towards the exit.

“Gendry!” She called, running through the hallway towards the doors at the front of the building.

She pushed through the glass doors and walked outside into the humid New York air. It was dark on the streets, a few people walking past but she saw no sign of Gendry. She sighed, her shoulders slumping. 

There was a barrier that she so desperately wanted to break, but Gendry seemed adamant about keeping it there. She needed to figure out why, even if that meant only chiseling away at the barrier piece by piece.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you all so much for the comments and kudos last chapter.  
> I'm so sorry for posting a little later than I have been, I've been busy with work and friends.  
> Anyway, I appreciate everyone taking the time out of your day to read my fic, and I love hearing your thoughts in the comments.  
> I had to come up with some names for characters that we never really got first names for, so I hope you guys like what I went with. I also really love the idea of Arya and Gendry doing the cha cha slide.  
> And the limo scene with Arya racing back and forth: I asked my three nephews and niece who are 12 and 13, and they all agreed they would do something like that in a limo, so I thought it would be funny that that's what Arya ends up doing alone in a big limo.  
> and finally, my apologies for any grammar or spelling errors, I always end up missing something when I proof read.


	6. Chapter 6

Arya spent the next few days enjoying herself. She would go into work for most of the day, and learned on Tuesday that the dance from the party had become something called a meme, and that _Wander_ and the _Cha Cha Slide_ were bouncing around “top 10 trending” on _Twitter_ for nearly a whole day on Tuesday as people retweeted memes and video from the partygoers. 

Ros had even forwarded Arya a link to a website called _Buzzfeed_ , that had written an article compiling all of the _Wander_ memes together. 

Jaqen was just happy they were being talked about, and the magazine’s website had even had a spike in hits in that first 24 hours.

Arya would dip out of work early, and discovered the multitudes of black and gold cards in her wallet. She went shopping, buying dozens of much more comfortable shoes, as well as clothes more to her mind’s style. The 2019 style was a skinny type of jean, as well as leggings. She saw overalls were “ _making a comeback_ ” according to a sales woman in Macy’s, and bought a few pairs of cut off overalls. She finished it all off by heading to a salon and dying the pink out of her hair, the stylist matching the dye to her natural hair color peaking through around at the roots.

She was enjoying the incredible freedom she had as a thirty year old, and an endless supply of money she seemed to have on her credit cards. 

Evelyn had invited her out to drinks on Saturday night, and Arya showed up in black skinny jeans, a polka dot peach blouse, and a black leather jacket, finishing off the look with some slip on vans. 

Evelyn’s lips turned up in almost disgust when Arya arrived at the bar, as Evelyn was wearing a black skintight bodysuit with a deep v-cut in the front and a tight white skirt with white pumps.

“Interesting,” Evelyn commented as they ordered their drinks. 

Arya smirked, tugging at the end of the leather jacket, “I thought it was time for a change in wardrobe.” 

Evelyn chuckled, “Well, don’t let Jaqen catch you looking like that in the office. He might demote you,” she joked.

Arya frowned for a moment, before turning her attention to the Long Island Ice Tea the bartender put down in front of her. She decided not to drink more than one tonight, as the morning after the party she had woken up and felt like she couldn’t sit up without throwing up the contents of her stomach. 

The two girls sat at the bar, sipping at their drinks and discussing the plans for the upcoming July edition of _Wander_.

Arya was finished with her drink when she noticed someone walking into the restaurant side of the bar.

She stood up, and waved her hand in the air, “Gendry!” she shouted.

A majority of the room quieted at her yell, and looked towards her. Gendry, who was standing near the matrade, looked up and had a slight half smile on his lips as they met eyes.

“That’s the guy from the party,” Evelyn muttered, looking at him as well.

Gendry walked across the room towards the bar and nodded towards Arya, “Hey,” 

She was beaming, “It’s good to see you!”

He nodded, “Yeah. Hey, sorry I ran out the other night,” He scratched behind his ear nervously, “I don’t really do parties so,”

She shook her head, “No, it’s alright. What are you doing here? Want to join us?” She asked, motioning to the bar.

Gendry hesitated, as if seriously considering the offer, before shaking his head, “Sorry, I’m actually getting dinner with someone.”

Arya cocked her head to the side, “Oh? Who?” She asked, thinking through her mind as to who it could be.

Gendry opened his mouth to speak when suddenly a woman linked arms with him, smiling. Gendry turned to look at the blonde woman, motioning to her with his free arm, “Uh, Arya, this is my fiancee, Laura.”

Arya felt her entire body stiffen, and her jaw clenched at the word _‘fiancee.’_ She studied the woman, suddenly feeling completely overshadowed. _Horseface_ and _Underfoot_ echoed in her mind as she took in each one of this woman’s beautiful features. From her wavy blonde hair and big green eyes, to her perfectly straight teeth and neatly applied makeup.

“Oh, hello, hi,” Arya stuttered out after a moment, reaching her hand out to shake.

Laura smiled, gently shaking Arya’s hand, “Gendry told me about his blast from the past. It’s so great to meet you, Arya,” 

She nodded, still processing the word _‘fiancee,’_ “A-Are you a photographer too?”

She smirked, side eyeing Gendry, “I see you two were spent so much time talking about me,” Arya could detect some sarcasm in her voice as she spoke, “No, I’m actually a news anchor. We’re out celebrating a big job offer I got in California,” Laura explained, squeezing Gendry’s arm tighter to her chest.

Arya’s mouth hung open slightly, “California? Like...like across America, California?” 

Laura nodded, “Yeah; I love the old craftsmen townhouses there, I can’t wait to start house hunting,”

“Nothing’s official yet, though,” Gendry butted in, frowning.

Laura rolled her eyes, nudging him, “Oh come on, you can take photos anywhere.” 

Arya opened her mouth to offer her own opinion on Gendry leaving so soon after they’ve reunited, when someone wrapped their arms around Arya’s waist.

She screeched and jumped from the stool, nearly falling into Gendry and Laura.

“Arya, shit, relax,” Evelyn groaned, sticking a finger in her ear from her outburst.

The blue haired man from earlier that week stood there, a nervous smile on his lips, “Whoa, babe, what’s wrong?”

Arya gaped at him, pointing, “What? Babe?” 

“ _Aegon Targaryen_?” Gendry asked, complete shock in his voice. 

Arya turned her head to look at him before looking back at the blue haired man.

He grinned, nodding, “Yeah, I go by Griff now, though. A bit more memorable since there’s about a dozen Aegon’s in my family,” he explained. He pointed towards Gendry, “Wait, didn’t you go to school with us?” 

Gendry nodded, his mouth forming a tight line, “Yeah,” he muttered. Gendry looked towards Arya, “ _He’s_ your boyfriend?” He questioned, his voice a bit high.

Arya wondered why his voice sounded different, but she couldn’t think on that for too long. She didn’t know how to answer him.

Griff reached over and pulled Arya towards him, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, “Yeah, going on two years.” 

Gendry nodded, “You play for the Rangers now, don’t you?” 

Griff nodded, “Oh yeah. Hey man, do you want an autograph? I can sign your shirt, forehead?” 

Gendry shook his head quickly, “No, uh, we should get back so we don’t lose our table.”

“Gendry,” Arya called, not wanting him to leave just yet.

“See you around,” Gendry muttered, turning away quickly. Laura gave Arya a smile and wave before following beside him back to the other side towards the restaurant. 

Arya watched as he crossed the room, while Griff and Evelyn seemed to be chatting about something, but she didn’t appear to hear a thing. All her mind was filled with was her childhood nicknames, and the word _fiancee_ , and the question marks around Gendry’s change of voice before.

Her stomach felt as if it was being squeezed as tight as it could, and she remembered being in the closet, thinking about Gendry walking in and the two sharing their first kiss. Now she kept picturing Gendry kissing Laura, while Sansa and Joffrey called her names. 

“I’ll go tell the valet to bring the car around, babe,” Griff whispered into her ear. Arya quickly covered her ear with her hand and before she could bark at him not to do that he was already walking away.

“Wait,” She muttered, before looking over at Evelyn, “Am I leaving with him?” 

Evelyn shrugged, “Why not? You’ve never had a bad night with him before.” 

Arya thought this over, frowning, “W-What will we do?” She asked.

Evelyn gave her a deadpanned look, “Oh, I don’t know, Arya. Perhaps a game of twister?” 

Arya perked at this. She was always very good at twister. 

“Okay, I can do that,” She nodded, paying for her drink before bidding her goodbyes. She took one last look towards the restaurant side of the room and saw Gendry and Laura sitting at a table towards the back wall. Gendry met her eyes for a moment, and Arya could hear a voice in her head shouting _‘Turn around and go ask to join them!’_ but he broke the eye contact before she could stop herself.

She sighed, walking out of the double doors and towards the valet stand where Griff stood.

_**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o** _

Griff drove them to his high rise apartment, and he excused himself to his room while Arya observed her surroundings.

The walls were painted black, with floor to ceiling windows and gold accents scattered across the sparsely furnished living space.

She took a seat on the black leather couch as Griff reentered the room, having changed into a white wife beater and grey sweatpants.

“So, did you want to do twister in here, or,” Arya started, pointing towards the floor.

Griff smirked, “Oh, so forward,” he growled, before kneeling down on the couch and and forcing Arya to lean back. He placed his arms on either side of her and began nibbling and licking at the side of her neck.

She gasped, reaching up and trying her best to shove him off her, “What the hell are you doing?” She hissed.

Griff pushed himself up and looked down at her, “What?” he asked innocently.

Arya rubbed the saliva off her neck, “Uh, gross, you got spit all over me,” She groaned, wiping her hand on the leather sofa.

Griff looked confused, before smirking once more, “Oh, is this another one of your role playing games, babe?” He growled down at her before resuming his place nibbling at her neck.

She went to shove him off her once more as his right hand began roaming down her hips.

She snarled and lifted up her knee between his legs, hitting hard.

He gasped, falling to his side and clutching to his crotch while Arya quickly stood and ran towards the door. 

As she hurried out of the apartment building she dialed Evelyn’s number. It went straight to voicemail and she huffed out, “He did not have twister! He just...I don’t even know what he was trying to do, slobbering all over me! Totally gross!”

_**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o** _

“Ugh, he sounds completely disgusting,” Wendy commented as she and Arya walked out of their apartment building the following Monday morning. Wendy was in her uniform for school, and Arya had decided on a pair of black dress pants and a white blouse and black heels. She was carrying a grey medium size purse, which held her Vans to change into once she was done with her morning meetings.

“Totally!” Arya agreed, scrunching up her face. 

“Boys just stink,” Wendy groaned.

Arya sighed, pulling out her phone to order a Lyft, “It’s even worse than I thought when I was 13.”

“Really? So do boys you like never like you, even when you’re older?” Wendy asked.

Arya frowned, “Well, you have to fight for what you want. My dad didn’t raise a quitter, so I suppose that can work with going after a guy you think doesn’t like you.”

She noticed Wendy didn’t look so convinced, and Arya wracked her mind to think of something more meaningful for this girl to take away before heading off to school.

She thought of some of the songs Sansa would blast in her room across the hall, normally all of them were songs about love that she would sing along perfectly to. There was always one repetitive song that got stuck in Arya’s head.

“But,” She said, getting Wendy’s attention, “When you do find someone who shares your feelings, you never could imagine there were ten million ways to love somebody.”

The 13 year old grinned, “Wow, that’s romantic.”

Arya shrugged, a small smirk on her lips as her phone was notified that her Lyft was arriving, “Good luck with fractions,” She called, walking towards the curb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments and kudos from last chapter! This was kind of a filler chapter, I know, but this part of the movie was pretty filler too. Things pick up next chapter, I promise!  
> Please leave comments and kudos, they make me happy. And as always, I apologize for any spelling or grammar errors.


	7. Chapter 7

The morning meeting was just starting, everyone cheery still from the success of internet virality last week. A few of the guys were listing off some possible _‘clickbait’_ titles for the website, as well as the front page of the July magazine.

Arya had pulled a packet of _Gushers_ from her purse and was digging her fingers through the package for the blue ones, as those were her favorite and she liked to eat them first.

No one had noticed Jaqen walking in solemnly, staring down at his iPad.

“Attention,” He said, coming to a stop behind Arya.

The room grew silent, everyone's eyes turning to him. Arya was popping three blue Gushers in her mouth as she waited for Jaqen to continue.

“I received the updated numbers this morning, and they are...well...dismal. We are below 700,000 total circulation, traffic on the website dropped considerably after last week despite our best efforts at keeping the public's attention, and _BE_ is closing in on a million. Corporate has emailed me this morning, and they dropped the ‘R’ word,” he explained, his voice low.

Arya’s brows furrowed at this, before the gentleman next to her perked up, “Redesign?” he questioned.

Jaqen nodded, and the room broke out in a low murmur.

“Jaqen, a redesign in the middle of the season is suicide,” Evelyn commented, crossing her arms.

“Look, we either redesign and bring up these numbers or it’s the end of _Wander_ ,” Jaqen sighed.

Everyone shared a look of apparent dread, but Arya didn’t understand their hesitation.

“Why is everyone so upset?” She asked, looking around. “This is perfect. This is our chance to have some fun.”

The room quieted as they turned their attention to Arya. She stood from her seat, dropping her package of _Gushers_ on the table and straightening her back to appear taller.

“Let _BE_ have all our secondhand, dime a dozen ideas. This is our chance to really show the world the beauty around them. To really showcase everything people are missing these days with their memes, and trendings, and what which Kardashian is doing. We can do this. We can show everyone what we’re really made of at _Wander_.”

“Well then,” Jaqen said, walking over and placing his arm around Arya’s shoulder, “I shall leave it to my dynamic duo to come up with something fantastic,” he said, looking between Arya and Evelyn.

Arya grinned, and noticed Evelyn looked less than thrilled at the challenge. The meeting ended with Jaqen calling out that they had two weeks to come up with ideas for the August issue. This gave Arya until the end of June to really come up with something great with Evelyn.

Ros met her outside the conference room door, holding a handful of sticky notes and chewing some bubble gum.

“Oh, can I have some?” Arya asked once she saw her. Ros nodded, pulling out a stick of gum from her pocket and handed it to her.

“I have your messages,” She explained, walking alongside her. She held out the sticky notes for Arya but the short woman gave her a smile, “Let’s hear them!”

Ros frowned, before nodding, “Uh, okay. Cathrine Frey called and said ‘I can’t believe you scooped my story, I hope you choke on your own vomit and die you conniving little bitch,’”

“Oh my God,” Arya gaped, narrowing her eyes forward.

Ros paused, before crinkling up the sticky note and shoving it into her other pocket, “And, uh, Millicent Westerland left a message saying ‘You’re nothing but an eff’ing rat, next time you want to subtweet me and talk shit about my articles I will come down to your office and slap that smugness off your face, eff’ you and your mother,’”

“Okay!” Arya interrupted as they stopped in front of her office, “I’ll just read those myself,” She muttered, quickly grabbing the sticky notes out of Ros’s hand and hurrying inside.

She sighed, dropping her purse on the ground as she looked at the multiple sticky notes Ros had scribbled her messages on.

She walked towards her desk, tossing the sticky notes in the trash can, deciding that she did not need to read the rest of the rude messages left to her. 

As Arya settled into her desk, scribbling out a few ideas she had for the magazine redesign, her phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Griff is on line 1 for you, Ms. Stark, he said he can’t get a hold of you on your cell,” Ros’s voice rang through the phone.

She rolled her eyes, “Gross. I don’t want to talk to him.”

There was a pause, “Um, is there any message you’d like me to give him?” 

Arya nodded, “Yeah, tell him he can call me in about ten zillion years. You think he’d get the picture with that?”

She heard Ros stifle a chuckle, “Yes, Ms. Stark, I can make sure he understands that.”

She smiled, hanging up the phone as she continued on with her bullet points. She debated doing the layout with a Greece style, as that appeared to be one of her favorite travel spots from all the photos she had of her trips there on her phone and around her office. Perhaps she could even fit in a trip to Greece before the project was due.

The phone rang again and she quickly answered, “Hello?”

“Sorry to bother you again, Ms. Stark, but Edric Dayne is here to see you.”

She paused, furrowing her brow, “Who?”

“Ann from the art department’s husband,” Ros muttered, her voice low.

Arya thought this over. Was she friends with this man? Was she friends with Ann? What business did this Edric Dayne have with her?

“Um, okay, send him in,” She said after a moment. 

She stood as Ros walked into her office, leading in a tall, skinny man with wavy blond hair.

Ros was glaring at Edric, and he looked defensive, “I was dropping off lunch for Ann, thought I’d say hello,” he explained.

Ros rolled her eyes before closing the door behind her.

“That’s really sweet, bringing your wife lunch,” Arya started, walking around her desk to greet him.

He didn’t say anything, though, instead lunged towards her with his arms out, ready for a kiss.

She quickly realized what he wanted and dodged him, her hip slamming against her desk as she stumbled towards the other side of her office.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Edric asked, smirking at her as he unbuttoned the top buttons of his shirt.

“Baby? What are you, _crazy_?! You’re married! You’re married to a girl I work with!” Arya snapped, glaring at him.

“That didn’t stop us from banging one out on your desk a few weeks ago,” He purred, lunging towards her again. 

Arya punched him as he grew closer, and when he reached up to cup his cheek, she kicked him in the stomach and sent him flying backwards. He groaned out in pain, and Arya hurried towards the door, grabbing her purse off the floor as she made her exit.

Ros was sitting at her desk, giving Arya a look she could not read as she straightened herself outside her office door. Did Ros know about this apparent affair? Was that why she rolled her eyes at Edric Dayne as she closed the door? Did everyone in the office know what kind of woman the Arya of now was in 2019?

Arya nodded towards Ros, squaring her shoulders before walking down the hall towards Evelyn’s office. Perhaps she could just hide in there until Edric left hers.

“...I don’t want Arya to find out,” Evelyn’s voice traveled out from the track in her office doorway.

Arya leaned against the wall, frowning as she overheard Evelyn and what sounded like Nancy, another editor Arya had meet at the party last week.

“I got it. What is up with her lately? Is she different to you?” Nancy asked, “She acted like she didn’t even know me at the party.”

“I don’t even know, but I am so sick of having her around with this stupid little act she has going on. She’s acting like some innocent little middle schooler. You know she stole Lucy’s idea and then fired her, right? What a load of shit she’s being. I say we come up with our own presentation and let her fall on her ass,” Evelyn said, chuckling.

Arya’s frown grew, and she slowly turned and hurried towards the elevator, not wanting to spend another minute here.

She didn’t want to go home. It was so quiet at her apartment. She missed hearing her parents voices floating through the house, her brothers laughter as they all rode through the training grounds on the family's horses, she even missed Sansa singing her love songs and talking about her day at Margaery’s at dinner.

Her mind landed on Gendry, and she risked him not being there early in the day. She ordered a Lyft, and sat quietly on the trip uptown. 

Gendry buzzed her in after she buzzed three times for Cajan food, and he looked as if he wasn’t surprised to see her standing outside his apartment door.

“You’re not cajan,” He said, a small smirk on his lips.

“Can I come in?” She asked.

He nodded, stepping aside and waving her in.

“Is Laura here?” She asked, walking down the hall and taking a seat on the sofa.

Gendry shook his head as he walked in after her, deciding to sit down in his recliner, “No, she’s visiting some family out of state before the wedding.”

Arya paused, leaning forward and crossing her arms over her knees.

“I still can’t believe you’re marrying someone,” She muttered, not meeting his eyes.

He nodded, “Yeah, two weeks away.”

There was another pause, “Is she your soulmate?” Arya asked, looking up at him.

Gendry looked taken aback, and chuckled slightly after thinking about it, “I-I don’t know, I don’t really think soulmates are a thing, honestly.”

Arya nodded, frowning. “But you, like,” She paused, waving her hands in the air vaguely, “You get goosebumps? And you feel butterflies when you think about them? And she’s like...like you’re other half?” 

Gendry’s chuckle disappeared and he frowned, this time it was his turn to avoid her eyes, “No, uh, I haven’t really felt like that since I was a kid.”

Arya gulped. She thought of her parents. She remembered she was never boy crazy like Sansa, but she always admired her parents love. She used to think she’d one day have a marriage like theirs. With someone who was her other half. She recalled the last time she felt goosebumps, of butterflies in her stomach at the nervousness of kissing this one boy; this one boy who very well was her other half.

“Gendry,” her voice was low, nearly a whisper, but his eyes met hers from across his coffee table, “What happened with us? Why did we stop being friends?” 

He sighed, “Arya, it was a long time ago,”

“Please,” She interrupted, “Just tell me.”

His lips made a thin line as he thought it over before nodding, “It was your thirteenth birthday party. Margaery Tyrell convinced me that stupid game was a good idea,”

“Wait, what?” Arya asked.

“The game, the closet game,”

“Seven minutes in heaven. When did Margaery convince you? What did she convince you of?” Arya asked, scooting down the sofa to get closer to Gendry in the recliner.

He paused, shaking his head slightly, “When I went to the bathroom. She stopped me upstairs, told me she wanted to play the game and,” He paused again, “Look, this really doesn’t matter anymore,”

“It matters to me!” Arya argued, growing frustrated at Gendry’s hesitation to tell her.

“Okay!” Gendry shrugged, “Well, I came back downstairs to you all angry and ready to beat up Sansa, Joffrey had a bloody nose, and I grabbed you so everyone else could run out. You locked yourself in the closet and I spent a good ten minutes trying to convince you to come out. When you finally opened the door you threw the dollhouse, that I spent three long weeks putting together, at my head.”

“Oh my God,” Arya muttered, her shoulders falling.

Gendry nodded, “You called me a liar, and a terrible friend, that I was no better than Joffrey or my shitty dad, and said you never wanted to speak to me, Margaery, or Joffrey ever again.”

“I,” She paused, looking up at him, “I’m so sorry, Gendry.”

He shrugged, “Look, it was a long time ago. It doesn’t matter anymore,”

Arya shook her head, a wave of sadness filling her up, “Gendry, stop being so nice to me. I don’t deserve it. Do you know what kind of person I am now?” She asked.

Gendry was silent, staring at her with his intense blue eyes. 

“I’m a mean person. I’m friends with mean people. I’m cold to nearly everyone, including kids in my building and my own doorman. I steal ideas from people and take credit, I don’t talk to my family, I did something very bad with a married guy,” she felt a lump form in her throat as she listed off all the terrible things she had learned of herself over the last week. The image of her father popped up in her head, and she couldn’t believe the amount of disappointment he would have in her if he knew all this.

She felt her eyes prick with tears as she stared down at her feet, “I’m really not thirteen anymore,” she muttered.

“Arya,” Gendry’s voice was strained, and he leaned forward to reach for her.

His arm gently gripped her forearm, and she looked up at him.

He had a pained look on his face, but he appeared to be struggling with something to say.

She forced a small smile for him, before standing and hurrying out of the apartment. She needed to go home, to go back. She didn’t think she could take another moment of this timeline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for taking so long to update! July was very busy, I was out of state on vacation and then I spent all of August working because I couldn't afford the vacation in July lol It was all just a LOT. I'm still working A LOT so I cannot promise a regular schedule of updates for this, but I have not abandoned this. It's just gonna take me a little longer to write and post with my job right now. Thank you for patience! Hope you enjoyed! Next chapter we get to see a character we haven't seen in a while! :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A familiar Stark comes back, and some missing details about Arya's 13th Birthday are brought into light.

Arya remembered the town she grew up in as fairly large, and she always enjoyed the walk home from her school to her family’s estate. Her siblings normally went home with friends, or their mother would pick them up, but Arya preferred the walk. She’d be able to talk to many people she’d pass, meet and play with random dogs and cats roaming the street, and when she met Gendry she would have a walking partner. 

In her neighborhood, most of the overly large houses with iron gates in the front yard held some of the upper class families the Starks associated with, but the family home was something else entirely. They lived on their own street, with no other houses surrounding them, and owned the property across the street and turned it into a large equestrian ground. Catelyn Stark adored horses, and was a professional breeder and trainer all throughout her marriage to Ned Stark. She even taught the Stark children to ride, and a majority of the other children from their private school.

Arya remembered promising Gendry that she would teach him to ride a horse herself the upcoming summer after her thirteenth birthday. She frowned, crossing her arms over her chest as she walked down the street of her childhood neighborhood. She guessed that didn't happen.

She had spent an hour on the bus from Manhattan to get back to her hometown, and the bus didn’t run this deep into town so she decided to walk the rest of the way to her family home. 

She had no idea if her parents had returned from their trip to Europe, but she couldn’t take another minute in the city. She wanted to go somewhere familiar; she wanted to go home. 

She turned down her street, labeled _Winterfell Rd_ , and began walking up the slow incline of the sidewalk. The sky was getting darker as she walked, with ominous grey clouds blowing in quickly from the north. 

Arya smiled when she eyed the family’s large barn in the distance, and quickened her walk to a run when thunder began roaring over her head.

She came up to the family’s large red brick home, running up the circular driveway towards the large double doors leading inside the family estate, and frowned when she saw the entire house dark. Her parents still hadn’t returned from overseas.

She searched the bushes as raindrops began to soak into her skin. She walked around towards a large rock pile and pulled a smaller rock from the center, flipping it upside down to reveal a key taped under it.

She let herself inside, just shy of being completely soaked as the rain fell harder, and flipped on the light switch.

A beeping sound began and she hurried over towards the alarm system. It was much different than the one from her childhood; much more high tech. There was a digital keypad, and she hoped it was still the same numbers she was taught as a child.

_9653_

She waited a moment and the beeping stopped, and she released a sigh she was holding in.

She stared around the entryway, taking it all in. The walls were no longer creamed colored, and instead painted a sleek white. The crystal chandelier hanging down from the second floor was also replaced with something more modern as well, multiple LED pendants hanging down at different lengths, giving the illusion of a spiral waterfall.

Arya had had enough, she did not want to look at any change. She walked towards the door at the end of the hall, leading down to the basement. 

As she reached the bottom she saw the old carpeting was replaced with hardwood, and the many trophies from her siblings sporting events were gone, as well as the boxy television and bean bag chairs. She saw the pool table tucked away behind the stairs, and a large bar was put in, and plush chaises and sofas were pushed up against the walls. 

She groaned, and walked towards the game closet. She hesitated, the laughs of Joffrey and her sisters friends echoing in her ear. Her lower lip trembled, and she wished desperately to go back. She swung the door open and felt a wave of happiness fill her to see the closet looked exactly the same. The walls were dark wood, with matching shelves and dozens of old, ratty game boxes stuffed onto each shelf. 

She closed the door behind her as she stepped inside, and felt claustrophobic standing there. Had the closet always been this small? She felt she could reach her arm out and touch the back wall of the closet, if the games weren’t so tightly packed on the shelf.

She sat down on the floor, mimicking where she sat as a thirteen year old, and closed her eyes.

_I wish I was a kid again, I wish I was a kid again, I wish I was a kid again_

She opened her eyes and looked down at herself. She still had the womanly body, and she could still hear the rain pounding against the exterior of the house, with no family or Gendry around her.

She gave in, and began crying into her knees, shaking her head as she slammed her back against the shelves. She couldn’t take this. She felt so alone in this time. She wanted her family. She wanted Gendry. She’d even take Sansa at this moment. Just someone, anyone, she could cling to. This was all too much for her mind and heart to take.

She had no idea how much time had passed since she began crying, but she was startled out of her sobs when the closet door swung open quickly and two women stood there, holding frying pans in their arms, ready to attack.

Arya gapped as she saw the woman in the front’s long red hair, and once the red head saw her face, she dropped the frying pan.

“Arya?” Sansa gasped.

Arya didn’t care that it was Sansa, she jumped up and locked her sister in a tight hug, crying into her shoulder.

She felt Sansa hesitate, before slowly wrapping her arms around Arya’s waist, and turned her head to look at the second woman.

“Marg, could you go make us some tea?” Sansa whispered.

Arya heard the woman hum in response, and soon there were footsteps hurrying back up the stairs.

****

**__**

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

**__**

****__  
  


Sansa had led Arya up the steps after a few minutes, and guided her into the completely updated kitchen. Arya sat at the table, holding her warm cup of tea with both hands. Sansa sat across from her, sipping her own tea, waiting for Arya to say something.

Arya had learned the Marg from downstairs was actually Margaery Tyrell, who had silently exited the kitchen when Sansa and Arya walked in.

 _‘I wonder if she’s doing that because of me,’_ Arya thought.

“What are you doing here?” Arya asked finally, staring down into her cup.

Sansa chuckled, “I could ask you the same question. You never come home unless it’s for Christmas, and even that’s rare.”

Arya felt as if she was punched in the gut with guilt at hearing that.

“I wanted to come back to some place familiar,” she glanced up towards the brand new kitchen, “But even this house is different now,” she muttered.

Sansa frowned, before straightening, “Marg and I have been housesitting while mom and dad are gone. They should be home at the end of the month, though, for a wedding.” 

“Gendry’s wedding?” Arya quickly asked, finally meeting her sister's eyes.

Sansa paused before nodding, “Uh, yeah, that’s right. How did you know he was getting married?”

“I...I’m his friend, he told me,” She tried, but felt as if she was lying. She wasn’t his friend, not really, not anymore. It was all so different.

“So you two made up? That’s really good,” Sansa had a small smile on her lips, “Here I thought you’d hold a grudge forever.” 

Arya frowned, “When was the last time we talked? Really talked? Like this?” 

Sansa looked taken aback, and she pursed her lips, thinking. “Besides a brief greeting at Christmas, probably not since high school, maybe earlier.”

“I’m sorry,” Arya quickly blurted out.

Sansa’s look of surprise remained on her face, “Y-You’re sorry?”

Arya nodded, “I went so long not talking to my own sister, because of something so stupid as Joffrey playing that trick at my birthday. I cut off my best friend, thinking he was in on it. I messed it all up. I’m sorry.”

Sansa shook her head, “No, Arya, I’m sorry.” 

“He was your boyfriend, and despite my hate for him, he was important to you, I should have accepted that,”

“ _No,_ ” Sansa interrupted, and she jumped from her chair and hurried around the table, taking a seat in the chair next to Arya.

“I’m sorry, Arya. Robert and dad always joked that their children would marry, that Joffrey and I would marry, and I spent my whole life thinking that’s what was supposed to happen. I put up with him screaming at me, shoving me, dumping me because I wouldn't sleep with him, not to mention the rumors he spread about me because of it. I was like a pariah because of him. And whenever you tried reaching out, I lashed out at you. Yes, I suppose it can link back to your thirteenth birthday, but I’m just as at fault for our relationship deteriorating.”

Arya reached over and gave Sansa a hug, relief filling her as her sister returned the hug.

“How did you get through school?” Arya asked.

Sansa’s brows furrowed, and she pulled back to look at her sister. “What do you mean?” 

Arya gulped, “I...I don’t remember much from that time,” she paused, deciding telling her sister the whole truth might ruin the moment. She decided to go with something Gendry had said to her, “I took a lot of drugs in my twenties,” She muttered.

Sansa’s mouth formed an _O_ , and nodded, “Uh, well, sophomore year mom had me transferred to The Spence School in Manhattan, she thought I’d do better at a school the kids didn’t know nasty rumors about me.” 

Arya glanced towards the archway leading towards the main hallway, where Margaery had exited to.

“Why is Margaery here? Are you two still best friends?” Arya asked.

Sansa stiffened a chuckle, giving her a disbelieving look. “How many drugs were you on?” 

Arya paused, not sure what an appropriate number of drugs would be. “fourteen?” 

Sansa squinted her eyes, her mouth agape for a moment before leaning against the table, “Margaery and I have been married for four years, Arya.”

Her eyes bulged out so wide, Arya thought they’d fall from the sockets, “What?” She asked, shocked.

Sansa nodded, “After Joffrey, I tried dating again in high school. I got set up by one of my dorm mates, with this guy in public school, Ramsay Snow. He wasn’t...very nice.” She muttered, averting her eyes.

Arya studied her sisters troubled look as she said this, “Was he worse than Joffrey?” 

Sansa nodded, sighing, “When I wouldn’t put out, Ramsay did what Joffrey didn’t. He took it by force.” 

Arya felt her blood boil, “That asshole!” She nearly yelped, “Did Robb and Jon beat him up?” 

Sansa shook her head, “I didn’t tell anyone until years later, when I was in college. That’s when I reconnected with Margaery. She was running this all female, feminist club on campus. I confided in her, and she went with me to these women's meetings where we would all talk and build each other up, stuff like that. After a couple of months, Margaery asked me out on a date. I thought she was just kidding, but I played along. The entire night felt...right. Like I was doing what I should have been doing all along. With Joffrey and Ramsay, I just did things I saw in movies, because that’s what I knew women were supposed to do when dating a man. It always felt foreign to me, like I was playing pretend, but I went along with it. With Margaery, it didn’t feel like pretend, it was just real.”

“When did...when did you come out?” Arya asked, completely shocked. She had never even considered her sister was a lesbian. She had no problem with it, she just felt completely surprised.

“I told everyone when I was twenty, well minus you, because you didn’t come home for the fourth of July. You found out, I think, two Christmases later when Margaery and I kissed under the Mistletoe on Christmas Eve. Although, you might not have even noticed since you didn’t say anything, plus all the drugs,” Sansa trailed off, arching a brow a her sister.

Arya nodded, trying to encourage her sister that yes, she did a lot of drugs.

“I’m sorry,” Arya said, reaching over and squeezing her sisters hand. “If I could...if I could get a do-over, I’d fix everything.”

Sansa gave her a small smile, “I admit, there are a lot of things in my life I would love to do-over. I would probably never go out with Ramsay if I could, but at the same time I would just want to spend more time with Margaery,” she smiled, “You don’t get any do-overs in life, and I wouldn’t waste a hypothetical do-over getting back at the people who wronged me. I would just use it to spend time with her, make up with you, and be at peace.”

Arya frowned, “But...I just feel like everything went so wrong in the past, now it feels like it can’t get better.”

Sansa shrugged, “The only way that happens is if you don’t try. If you can recognize all the wrong things now you just need to do everything you can to fix them. Don’t wait for the do-overs, make the changes now.”

A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, and she reached over to hug Sansa once more. 

“Come on,” Sansa said, moving to stand up, “It’s getting late. I’ll make up the guest room for you.”

**_0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o_ **

Arya’s old bedroom was turned into a children’s play room, as Arya learned she was an aunt. She couldn’t believe she had no photos of her adorable little 6-year-old nephew, Eddard, named after their father; the child belonged to Robb and his ex-girlfriend Jayne, and her parents loved to volunteer watching him during baseball season while Robb worked and Jayne was at her job at the hospital.

The guest bedroom was now Bran’s old room, and it was very minimal, with two queen size beds parallel to each other, a dresser across from them, and a flat screen mounted above the dresser.

Arya slept in the bed closest to the door, passing out rather quickly as Sansa tucked her in, reminiscent of when Arya was much younger and Sansa would play Mother with her at nap time.

Arya awoke as the sun came up, the rain having stopped late in the night.

She tiptoed down the stairs towards the kitchen, wanting to eat something, when the smell of bacon filled her nostrils.

She peeked her head around the archway leading into the kitchen, and saw Margaery standing at the stove, humming a song to herself. She was wearing workout clothing, and had headphones in her ears as she tossed around the eggs and bacon in the pan.

Arya stepped into the kitchen, wanting to give her own apology to Margaery now that they had a moment alone.

She walked around the island counters and over towards the stove, causing Margaery to jump in surprise at finally seeing her. She pulled out a headphone, and studied Arya’s face, “Morning, I was just making some breakfast,” 

Arya nodded, “Smells good,” she gave Margaery a smile, offering an olive branch.

Margaery smiled back, pulling out her other headphone and placing them on the counter by her phone, “Thanks.”

Arya walked towards the fridge and pulled out a large jug of orange juice.

“I was hoping we could talk,” Arya started, finding that in a home filled with changes, the glass cups were still in the same cabinet.

“About what?” Margaery asked, her attention back on the frying pan.

Arya placed the jug back and walked towards Margaery, leaning her hip against the counter as the woman before her kept cooking.

“I wanted to apologize for what happened when we were kids,” she explained.

“Is this apart of your AA thing? Making amends?” Margaery asked.

“AA?” Arya questioned, confused.

Margaery nodded, “Sansa said last night you were on a lot of drugs before,” 

Arya still wasn’t sure what the letter A had to do with that? She decided to go with it, “Uh, yeah.”

Margaery nodded, “It’s water under the bridge, Arya. I was never mad at you or anything. The entire plan backfired at your birthday and I really should have seen it coming,” 

“Plan?” Arya asked. “You remember what happened at my thirteenth birthday?” She asked.

Margaery nodded, “It’s hard to forget the first person you come out to, or the situation around it. Especially one as memorable as your birthday,”

“Come out?” Arya asked, surprised. Margaery came out at her thirteenth birthday? She didn’t remember that.

Margaery turned off the stove, grabbing a plate from the cabinet behind Arya’s head and shoveling the eggs and bacon onto it with the spatula. 

“Oh, I guess you never found out the whole story,” Margaery muttered, her brow furrowed.

“Gendry told me you wanted to play Seven Minutes in Heaven, and that was it,” She explained.

Margaery frowned, looking Arya in the eyes, “That’s what he said?” 

Arya nodded, suddenly feeling nervous, “Did something else happen?” 

She nodded, and walked towards the fridge to pull a box of eggos from the freezer. They were the chocolate chip kind, Sansa’s favorite.

“It was mine and Gendry’s plan, the Seven Minutes in Heaven. Mostly mine, but Gendry said he liked it,” she explained.

“Why would he say that?” 

She sighed, “Okay, I think I should just start at the beginning. Come here,” She waved Arya over, Margaery discarding the box of eggos on the island and taking a seat at the table.

Arya sat in the chair to Margaery’s left, clutching her glass of orange juice tightly.

“I already knew I liked girls well before your party. My brother Loras had come out the year before, and our parents were very accepting, so I knew it wasn’t a big deal, but I still hadn’t told anyone yet. I had a crush on Sansa, and I hated how Joffrey treated her, so I had suggested to your mom during our riding lesson that Sansa invite her friends to your party too. I had a master plan of playing Seven Minutes in Heaven, but I needed you to be on board too. I spent the last month of school watching you, trying to figure out who you had a crush on.”

“I didn’t have a crush on anyone,” She said defensively, like a reflex.

Margaery smirked, “Don’t waste your time lying about something from your childhood, Arya. I could tell, you liked Gendry. I could also tell Gendry liked you. I mentioned it to Sansa, asked if you had kissed anyone yet. She was adamant you hadn’t, that you hadn’t grown out of your cooties stage yet. That’s when I decided to get Gendry on my side.”

“The plan?” Arya asked.

Margaery nodded, “Gendry was drinking a lot of soda, so I figured he’d need to use the bathroom soon. So I went upstairs and waited outside the bathroom for when he’d finally come use it. When he did, I confronted him about his crush on you. Of course, he denied it, but you can’t blush as much as he did and say it’s not true, because the blush gives it all away. Plus, he got really hopeful when I mentioned you liked him too.”

Arya blushed as Margaery said this, and the brunette smirked, “See? You’re blushing.”

“Shut up,” Arya muttered, embarrassment overwhelming her.

“Well, anyway,” She continued, “I told him you were too stubborn to admit it, but I told him I could convince you to play the game and be waiting for him to kiss you once he got back from the bathroom. He asked what I got out of the arrangement, and I told him that after you two came out of the closet, he had to get Sansa in next, and convince Joffrey that I should be the one to go in the closet with her.”

“You came out to Gendry,” Arya muttered.

She nodded, “He wasn’t at all phased by it, just didn’t think Joffrey would go for it. I had previously seen Joffrey sneaking lesbian centric pornography magazines into the mens locker room at school, so I figured Gendry wouldn’t have too much of a hard time convincing Joffrey his fantasy would come true. Meanwhile, my hunch about Sansa not being straight would have come out a lot sooner, and Joffrey would be out of our lives, hopefully, after that. It was a rather smart plan, at least my fourteen year old self thought so. As an adult now, I realize forcing someone to come out when they aren't ready isn't a good thing, and I admit I am embarrassed by it now, especially how badly it backfired. ”

“Because of Joffrey,” Arya frowned, anger rising in her stomach once more.

Margaery nodded, sighing, “I was trying to convince everyone to wait until Gendry came back down, because I had told you that’s who’d be coming in with you. Joffrey thought it would be funnier to humiliate you. Sansa tried to talk him out of it, but he told her if she didn’t go along with it he’d never speak to her again. Looking back, I do wish I had fought harder to get him to wait. If Gendry had come down sooner, I could have rushed him in before Joffrey.”

“You’re sure you’re remembering it all correctly?” Arya asked.

Margaery nodded, “Oh yeah, completely. After that I spent the rest of the summer trying to get Sansa to understand my feelings, but then all that shit started with Joffrey spreading those rumors about her our freshman year, and it all got worse and worse, until Sansa just left for Spence School. But yeah, it was definitely a team effort with Gendry and I. He wanted to kiss you, he had a major crush on you.” 

Arya’s face turned beat red, and she stared down at her hands before nodding, “And now he’s getting married,”

Margaery nodded, sighing, “Funny how life works out. But hey,” She reached over and squeezed Arya’s arm, “There are plenty of amazing guys out there for you. Or girls,” She winked, causing Arya to chuckle, nodding her head in agreement.

“I’ve got some stuff to do then,” Arya announced, determined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you didn't figure it out, the security code for the Stark estate spells out 'WOLF'


End file.
